All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir

by Nicole Chung

Genres: Memoir

Kindle Edition

Published October 2, 2018

About the author

Nicole Chung is the author of A Living Remedy (April 4, 2023) and the national bestseller All You Can Ever Know (2018). Named a Best Book of the Year by over twenty outlets, including NPR, The Washington Post, Time, and Library Journal, All You Can Ever Know was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and NAIBA Book of the Year, a semifinalist for the PEN Open Book Award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and an Indies Choice Honor Book. Nicole is currently a contributing writer at The Atlantic, and her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Time, The Guardian, Slate, and Vulture. Find her on Twitter, Mastodon, and Post at @nicolesjchung.

Reviews

[Nickie]

I absolutely loved this book and it's very nuanced take on adoption - that adoption is neither good nor bad, but just a very complicated situation for everyone involved. While I'm not adopted, I'm of mixed heritage. My grandparents on my father's side of the family died before I was born and my dad was a child refugee at the age of eleven, so I recognize many of the issues raised in the book; like the feeling of not really belonging to either of my parents' cultures - the feeling of constant 'othering', but also the loss of family history, the part that missing because my dad was only a kid, when he lost his parents and because I lost my dad way to early as well.

[Irene Moyer]

Really thought this was good.

I adopted kids but not Asian ones. Mine were different foster kids of mine. There were issues in common and others not. How different are trans racial adoptions are from the old days. We had open adoptions. the issues in the book and personal ones were complex and hard to describe easily. I certainly would like to read more of China's books.

[Kayla]

A new and interesting perspective from an adoptee. She shared her experience of being loved while also missing her Korean culture. I like that she included her whole journey from adoption to creating a family of her own.

[Randi O'Donnell Bennett]

loved it

As an adoptee, I loved reading this book and experiencing her journey. Beautifully written narrative and explanations for all the complex emotions that adoption entails, especially a cross cultural and international adoption.

[Lewestover]

Interesting to consider the interracial aspects of adoption -- from the author's perspective as the adoptee, both as a child growing up and also how her experiences molded her attitudes as a mother of her own (natural) child.

[Elaina]

I felt very seen in my experience as an adoptee overall and as an adoptee who recently made contact with their bio family

[Joy]

I am too biased to give a fair review

[Reader]

Wasn’t a page turner but an interesting take on the adoption process with it’s good and bad possible outcomes.

[Michele]

great for all (future) parents

What a great book! I found it educational, raw, emotional - it gave me all the feels. Def recommend for all types of (future) parents.