This was so hard to read but so educational. I highly recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about history, or any youth who thinks their life is too hard.

It is always brave to offer up your personal experiences in a book and I commend the author for their efforts. The path their life took was interesting to read about but I feel perhaps some judicious editing to smooth some of the writing and perhaps make it a little more consistent may have helped make this a bit easier to engage with.

As an adoptee, I gravitative towards reading about the experiences of other adoptees and Tony Brennan's story was no exception.

Recounting an adoption story is challenging. There are many layers that need to be peeled back, facts that need to be questioned, and mysteries that sometimes remain mysteries. I send my thanks to the author for taking the time to share his story with the world. It will be treasured by his family and future generations.

When reading adoption-based stories, I find it easier to make a connection with ones written from a first person point of view. Throughout the book, the POV meandered from third person to Tony's point of view. This distracted from the overall storyline. My copy was an ARC and perhaps this issue was addressed in the final copy. If I had a choice, however, I would have enjoyed and preferred hearing this story from Tony Brennan's point of view.

Kind thanks to Troubador, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced reading copy of Never Give Up.

Everybody feels defeated at one time or another. This is one book that should be on the reading list of anyone who wants to defeat the failures of the past. Read it and reap.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I was hoping for more from this book. More about the orphanage, more about how that shaped his life, more clarity on his search for family.
Another thing that bugged me was that it was mostly written in the 3rd person but occasionally an "I" or "we" was tossed in there that make things confusing. Overall, it could have used some more editing.

The story of Terry Brennan is so interesting. His story touches on orphanages, workhouses, post-WW2 and the study of genealogy. As a reader I wanted to really know Terry and understand the impact emotionally on him. How did his upbringing influence his raising of his own children? How did his marriages benefit or suffer from childhood?
Unfortunately it reads like an administrative report, with each paragraph sounding like a bullet point with absolutely no emotion. More time is given in the narrative to the dress someone wore or building a garage then was given to finding out his father's name. If it had been written in first person maybe the reader could connect more with the subject. The book seems not to have been edited as it written mostly in third person then an 'I' or 'we' is thrown in the middle of a statement.
Overall this book needs to be flushed out and a decision made on whether it is a government report of an individual or make it a true biography and allow the reader to know the subject not just the high level facts.

I just reviewed Never Give Up by Tony Brennan. #NeverGiveUp #NetGalley

This was an interesting memoir of how Terry grew up in an orphanage and despite not knowing about his family or even where he was from, he did do well for himself throughout the years. He is lucky to have finally found and met what members of family remains. I hope he’s happy with the identity he found

I do feel the writing was very simplistic and could have been. Portrayed a lot better, but overall I did enjoy it.