A Review of Marcie J. Keithley’s,

The Shoebox Effect

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As a young girl, I was devoted to my journals. Like most teens, I wrote about family life, friends, and hobbies. The entries were for my eyes only. When I went off to college, I stashed the journals in the bottom of a sturdy, cardboard box and covered them with keepsakes. I sealed the box with multiple strips of masking tape and marked it: Julie–High School. Then I stowed the carton in an obscure corner of my parents’ basement.

Fast forward thirty years. When my husband and I downsized from the suburban home where we’d raised our family, I saved one of the most onerous tasks for last: going through the basement storage area. On one of the lower shelves, behind dust-encrusted bins of Christmas ornaments and kids’ memorabilia, a heavily taped box marked: Julie– High School appeared. I yanked it from the shelving. I stripped away the old tape and grinned when I discovered my old journals hidden at the bottom. 

We all have cartons or shoeboxes that we have shoved in out of the way spots, and intentionally or unintentionally left them untouched for years. The difference between my discovery of the box with my journals was that I was eager to open it and rediscover my adolescent self.

But what if the box was a painful one to open because of what it contained or represented? And how might one transform that pain into fortitude and purpose?

This is the subject of Marcie J. Keithley’s book, The Shoebox Effect. It is a story of courageous love and searing loss, and it is a tale of redemption and reckoning. 

Marcie is a birth mother, a secret she kept for decades. The symbol of her child’s painful surrender is stowed in a shoebox that she tucks neatly away. In this deeply personal and riveting memoir, Marcie takes us on a journey of discovery as she plunges into the ramifications of the choices she made as a young woman. She adeptly and honestly guides us through an intricate tale of love and loss. In each chapter, Marcie provides workbook pages containing reflection questions and an area to make notes. The true benefit to the reader is Marcie’s “Points to Ponder.” In these sections, she provides useful information, wisdom, and encouragement. 

In The Shoebox Effect, Marcie’s goal is to help us unpack our own shoeboxes, to face the truths we deposited there, and to heal and find purpose in what we discover about ourselves. As pragmatic as Marcie is in the recounting of her enthralling personal tale, she is equally honest about the ramifications of her difficult choices. There are so many lessons packed into this tidy book of 182 pages, that it bears re-reading not just twice but thrice. 

Adoption is complicated no matter what side of the triangle you occupy. Whether you are a birth parent, adoptee, or adoptive parent, each perspective is unique. No two stories are the same. However, there is a common theme: difficult choices and subsequent losses are felt for a lifetime. By sharing her story and offering valuable tools to consider when opening a hidden “shoebox,” Marcie Keithley has improved the adoption conversation. 

This book is not just a memoir, a toolbox, or a workbook. It is an important installment in the continuum of change that society must undergo in de-stigmatizing adoption and eradicating long-held myths about the adoption experience.

“The Shoebox Effect” is a must read for every socially conscious adult who knows anyone touched by adoption.

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