Schroder by Amity Gaige
Young Erik Schroder was born in East Berlin and came to the United States with his father to Boston. When applying to attend summer camp he decides to recreate himself taking on the identity of Eric Kennedy. This is a persona that he likes and in the mid-80s it was easy to create a new identity for oneself so he became Eric Kennedy. As Eric Kennedy he got married and had a beautiful daughter named Meadow. All is not well in his marriage and the two divorce with his ex-wife all but getting full custody. Eric loves his daughter and wants to be with her but he knows that if he starts to fight too hard his true identity will be revealed. While he never did anything horrible in his past, the fact that the past he has always told his family and friends about is a lie. So Eric spontaneously takes his six-year old daughter on an adventure: an adventure that his ex-wife and the authorities call kidnapping.
This book is written as an apology to his ex-wife. The chapters are short, each detailing episodes from his life as well as what he and Meadow were doing while on their adventure. He knows that as a parent his ex would want to know everything her daughter experienced while not with her mother.
While some reviewers say there is nothing to like about Schroder I found myself not only liking him, but empathizing with him. He dreamed of a better life for himself and things just didn’t work out the way he envisioned. A quick, interesting read that really allows you to get into the head of the main character.
