Title: My Three Dads
Author: Zane Silva
Cover artist: Reese Dante
Publisher: Silver Stream Press
Amazon buy link: Buy Link My Three Dads
Genre: Contemporary Young Adult
Length: Approximately 90 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Guest review by Orion
Review summary: A quick, enjoyable exploration of gay parenting.
Blurb: About to graduate from college, Carl tells the story of his childhood, a sort of informal testimonial to thank the men who raised him. To begin with, he was leery about having a gay couple for his foster parents, but living with Leonard Schafer and James MacPhalen, he found love, respect, and stability for the first time in his young life. Now that his biological father has reappeared and wants him back, everything may change again… and not for the better. About to graduate from college, Carl tells the story of his childhood, a sort of informal testimonial to thank the men who raised him. To begin with, he was leery about having a gay couple for his foster parents, but living with Leonard Schafer and James MacPhalen, he found love, respect, and stability for the first time in his young life. Now that his biological father has reappeared and wants him back, everything may change again… and not for the better.
Review: Carl Crawley’s life begins hellishly. By the time he’s 2 years old, his father has disappeared, and his mother dies a year after that. His paternal grandmother takes him in, but she sinks into dementia and is consigned to a nursing home. By the time he reaches first grade, Carl is a ward of the state, bouncing from foster home to foster home because he is a “problem child.” He throws tantrums, gets into fights, and is considered unruly and uncooperative.
Just as he is about to hit puberty, the state places him, out of desperation, with a gay couple—bank manager Leonard Schafer and his partner, James MacPhalen, who owns a travel agency. Carl doesn’t expect this placement to be long-term for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is his fear of the social stigma that will come with having gay foster parents. But the men welcome him warmly into their lives, doing everything they can to make him feel comfortable. The three of them slowly but steadily begin to bond. They reach the point where they want to make everything legal through adoption, and it seems that Carl is finally going to get his forever family.
And this is where the third dad, Carl’s biological father—after whom he is named—comes back into the picture, starting a court battle for custody.
The setup is great, and it kept me turning pages to see how everything would work out. The laws in some states heavily favor a biological family member in such instances, especially when a gay person or couple is trying to adopt, and that knowledge added to the suspense I felt. The novella is told from Carl’s point of view, and the author makes him engaging both as a character and a narrator. I liked James and Leonard, a loving couple whom the author manages to depict with distinct personalities despite the short length.
I did feel that the first third of this novella contained entirely too much telling. Carl tells us that he was a problem child, that his early placements with foster parents were disasters, and that his first days in James and Leonard’s home were awkward. What I longed for were scenes showing us these situations. In my opinion, the story would have benefited from being a bit longer, giving us an even better chance to get to know Carl and his gay foster parents. While the focus of the plot in on Carl and the issues surrounding his custody, James and Leonard are very interesting characters, and I thought the author could have devoted more time to their relationship with each other. I also thought some of the dialogue didn’t quite ring true in some instances. There are some emotional scenes here that come close to being treacle, but the author, thankfully, manages to sidestep that pitfall.
None of the drawbacks I mentioned stopped me from enjoying this novella. It held my interest from beginning to end, and I recommend it happily.
Woa this sounds like something I want to read! Nice review there! You certainly convinced me!
This is great with one exception: it’s too short. Hopefully, this author will write longer novels in the future because this is definitely an original idea
Orion
I was waiting for your review before deciding whether I would invest the time and I’m so happy you like My Three Dads. This is definitely going on my TBR because first, the premise is unusual and second, you liked the story despite a few missteps. The issues you had with the story e.g. telling rather than showing probably had to do with the length as most short books resort to this strategy.
Thank you for this review.