Family Family

India Allwood is an awkward teenager in middle school, and people often poke fun at her unique name. When her mother takes her to a performance of Guys and Dolls, the performance changes her life, and she declares that day, “That’s the only thing I want to do” (3), meaning to be onstage. India’s mother, Sarah, says she should thank her for giving her a memorable stage name. India could have never predicted how right her mother was.

Surprisingly, while reading the newspaper, Fig discovers a negative review from the Adoptee Healing and Mediation (AHAM) organization for her mother’s latest movie, Flower Child. In the film, the protagonist is forced to put her baby up for adoption but is later reunited with them at a drug rehab facility. The organization didn’t like the movie’s depiction of trauma and found the ending improbable and insensitive. India is unconcerned with the criticism since she didn’t write the script. She acknowledges the organization’s complaint is understandable and says she will “[i]gnore them and they’ll go away” (7). However, she is wrong, and the situation intensifies.

In ninth grade, India calculates that she will spend 5,040 hours in school, hours she considered wasted on the high school curriculum. She tells her mother that she would be better off spending those hours traveling. Her mother counters that the best plan is to stay in school and get a solid knowledge base.

India remains steadfast in her goal of becoming an actress. Though the counselor encourages her to get involved in high school activities, India only cares about getting grades high enough to get her into the best acting schools in New York. She uses index cards to catalog each school, lists its requirements, and keeps the cards visible to remind her of her goal. As high school ends, India discovers she may have been wrong about her goals.

Fig’s therapist, Mandela, once suggested that she rename things that frightened her to strip them of their power. As the criticism for India mounts online, Jack suggests calling cyber bullies “dwebs”—a combination of dweeb and web. Jack declares to his mom, “You’re a hashtag” (13), and explains that she’s on her way to being canceled. Some online commenters suggest a boycott of her television show, Val Halla.

India’s agent Ajax suggests that she issue a public apology. However, India sees no way to make everyone happy, citing critics' overlapping and sometimes contrasting complaints. India receives a call from Evelyn Esponson at Media Entertainment asking for a statement regarding the complaints. At first, India declines to comment, but she adds that she is sorry not for doing the film but sad that the complainers are in pain. Making the statement only adds fuel to the fire.

India never gets cast in the school musical because she can’t sing. After scanning the cast list, her senior year for the school’s production of Guys and Dolls, and not seeing her name, she sits down and cries. A new boy named Robbie Brighton walks up and introduces himself. Tall and intriguing, Robbie soon makes India forget her sadness as she offers to give him a theater tour. The next day, India is excited to learn they have two classes together, and at lunch, they share their sandwiches.

Robbie moved around a lot because his father was a visiting music professor. He tells her that the most exciting thing he observed at the four high schools he’d attended was that dating is different everywhere. He uses this as an intro to ask her out for karaoke. At the karaoke bar, they perform a duet of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” and she discovers that Robbie sings beautifully. India performs a monologue from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice at school, which all her classmates love. Robbie tells her she is a great actor and kisses her. They begin meeting at her house to have sex, and after a month, India gets pregnant.

India’s quote to Evelyn Esponson is misunderstood as pity for adoptive families, and Ajax calls her to demand that she make a public statement clarifying her feelings. India initially refuses but has no choice if she wants to continue working. Fig overhears the conversation and becomes anxious that her mom might lose her job.

India gives Evelyn a pat apology to publish, but Evelyn says she doesn’t buy it and asks India how she feels about Flower Child. Considering she has nothing else to lose, India explains she does have problems with the tired, trite adoption plotline she describes as “Birth mom is broken by adoption. Child feels incomplete forever. Neither time nor distance nor fate can keep them apart for the mother-child bond is universal though irreplaceable, supernatural though super natural” (32). She wishes that movies would better represent all types of families, including those where adoption isn't traumatic. India’s statements calm AHAM’s outrage but cause outrage from others.

India is confident that she got pregnant the night of the school’s performance of Guys and Dolls. She knows she was pregnant when she threw up before school. India and Robbie declare their love for one another and consider their options. Robbie devises a way to write their choices on index cards and treat the decision like playing the card game War. He calls it “Family War,” and the cards read “abortion,” “adoption,” “family,” and “duet” (38). Robbie explains that “duet” means they won’t get married but will trade off raising the child. They play the card game for days but can’t get the correct result.

During their turmoil, India gets acceptance letters from the Lenox University School of Dramatic Arts, NYU, Columbia, and Juilliard. Robbie leaves the decision to her, citing that it is her body. After pondering her position, India decides that she wants the baby to have a chance at a good life, so she chooses to put the baby up for adoption. When she tells Robbie, she can tell he is upset about her choice.

Ajax comes to their house to scold India for her latest remarks, which have angered the movie’s production company. India is contractually obligated to support the film, and the company uses language that sounds like a lawsuit. She stands behind her comments and refuses to be inauthentic. The children watch anxiously as their mother defends herself, and Ajax begins to yell. Fig hid her phone in a drawer to avoid internet trolls, but she hears an alert and knows who’s contacting her.

India breaks the news to her mother over breakfast, claiming that it’s okay that she’s pregnant because she got into college and that she and Robbie have a plan. India’s mother listens as she lays out the reason for choosing adoption and then explains all the ways India has not thought everything through thoroughly. She explains how difficult it will be for India to complete school while pregnant. Since Sarah is a lawyer and good at persuasion, India worries that she will talk her out of the decision. However, she agrees with Robbie that it is India’s decision. Sarah congratulates India on getting into college and decides to help her find an adoption agency.

India finds the process of searching for potential adoptive families strange and uncomfortable. She combs through stacks of binders containing family profiles and lengthy explanations for how they will remain connected to her, the “Birth Mom,” a title India doesn’t like. She wants the baby to be entirely theirs and no longer hers. India chooses a single lady named Camille who skips creating the lengthy profile binder to get straight to the point and list what she likes and how she plans to raise the child.

At the meeting with Robbie and India, Camille feels the awkward tension as she exchanges knowing glances with India’s mom and notices Robbie’s apparent discomfort with the process. Though the agency encourages open adoptions—where the birth parents negotiate with the adoptive parents ways to remain in contact with each other—India chooses a closed adoption. Camille can see that this is also something Robbie disagrees with. India, however, is insistent that she wants the baby to be fully Camille’s with no strings attached.

As India’s belly grows, she worries that she will face bullying at school, but her classmates just ignore her. Robbie often sings to the baby and encourages her to talk to it, so she recites her Shakespeare monologue. Robbie asks her to prom, and she finds a dress that fits. She writes “NYC” on the label of her underwear to remind her of her goal as the end of her high school days comes near.

Fig uses the phone she and Jack share to read her text messages. A while ago, Fig used her technology skills to track down her biological sister, who goes by the username “EaneyMeaney.” Ever since she made first contact with her, they’ve maintained a text relationship. Her sister asks in the texts about the media firestorm, and they joke about her “coming out” either to LA or out of the closet. They toss around the idea of the sister telling the truth through a video. Later, Fig and Jack’s phone pings again with a link to a video that gets 1.1 million views in just a few hours.

India goes into labor at night but doesn’t tell her mother until the following day. Sarah drives her to the hospital and picks up Robbie. Camille meets them at the hospital. After labor, India feels empty and disassociated from her body and cries for a long time while Robbie holds her. Through tears, he whispers to her, “It’s not too late” (71), but India assures him they made the right choice. She awakes later to Camille singing a tune from Guys and Dolls to the baby. Camille encourages her to hold the baby girl. Robbie removes his shirt and snuggles the baby to his skin, which makes India cry. Camille names the baby Rebecca after her grandmother.

When Rebecca and Fig began texting, Rebecca said she went by “Bex,” is 16, and lives in Seattle. Fig also learned that Bex can sing, which is funny since India can’t. Bex makes a video announcing that she is India Allwood’s biological daughter and that India put her up for adoption when India was 16. She shows a picture of India holding her in the hospital as proof. She speaks directly to the online haters who claim that India is a ‘trauma tourist” and says, “She’s legit. She’s authentic. She’s a ‘trauma local’” (76), meaning she has personal knowledge about adoption. The video’s release sparks another wave of media firestorms, and India tries to do her best to maintain normalcy despite constant phone calls and another visit from Ajax. After her mom tucks her in, Fig gets Bex's text, wondering if she should come to Los Angeles.