Lost in the Reflecting Pool

By Diana Pomerantz She Writes Press, 2017, ISN: 978-1-63152-268-0, 320 pages, $16.95 A career, marriage, two children — one by adoption, one biologically — Diane Pomerantz had almost the perfect life despite a few bumps along the way. Then everything began to unravel with the loss of her mother, diagnosis of cancer and the dissolving of her marriage. “Lost in the Reflecting Pool” is the story Pomerantz shares of that journey and the reality she comes to understand in its aftermath. In the early part of the book, Pomerantz shares the early love story with her husband and their path to parenthood with challenges in both maintaining a pregnancy and in adopting a child. Ultimately, she and her husband Charles end up with both — a biological son and an adopted daughter. It isn’t until Pomerantz experiences the loss of her mother and the difficulty of undergoing cancer treatment that she begins to see the true colors of her marriage. “Lost is the Reflecting Pool” isn’t specifically an adoption book; it is more about Pomerantz’s relationship with her husband. It’s an interesting read, especially in the fact that Pomerantz is a therapist, yet had trouble recognizing the narcissism and concerning behaviors of her husband over the years. Fortunately, Pomerantz comes out whole on the other side of these challenges. The memoir serves as a witness to emotional and mental abuse and how those can creep into a relationship slowly over time. It would be interesting to have her daughter, who is an adoptee, share how her parents’ relationship and her own relationship with her father impacted her life specific to her thoughts and feelings around adoption as well — that would be a good follow-up to “Lost in the Reflecting Pool.” — Reviewed By Kim Phagan-Hansel