Jin-ho's Mother

I'm listening to a book on CD. It's called "Digging To America" by Anne Tyler. She's another one of my favorite authors. Her stories are quiet and unassuming. The life changing and climactic moments are typically so subtle and full of shining, everyday details that it just resonates with me in a way that over-the-top conclusions (like Harry Potter) don't. And it's not that I don't enjoy those as well, but....you know.

The story is about two American families who adopt Korean and, eventually, Chinese babies. One of the families are WASPy Americans and the other are Iranian-American. It's a story about parenting, clashes and blendings of cultures, romance, belonging and feeling like an outsider.

I'm near the end and I've noticed that the author has stopped calling the parents and grandparents by their names. They are called "Jin-ho's mother" and "Jin-ho's grandpa" and "Susan's father" and "Xaio Mai's father", etc. It's like they are disappearing to make way for the children. Interesting.