Book description
* * * * * * * BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week * * * * * * *
'Andrew Solomon's investigation of many of the most intense
challenges that parenthood can bring compels us all to re-examine
how we understand human difference. Perhaps the greatest gift of
this monumental book, full of facts and full of feelings, is that it
constantly makes one think, and think again.' Philip Gourevitch
In this seminal new study of family, Andrew Solomon tells the
stories of parents who learn to deal with their exceptional children
and find profound meaning in doing so.
He introduces us to families coping with deafness, dwarfism, Down
syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, disability, with children who are
prodigies, who are conceived in rape, who become criminals, who are
transgender. While each of these characteristics is potentially
isolating, Solomon documents repeated triumphs of human love and
compassion to show that the shared experience of difference is what
unites us.
'Reading Far from the Tree is a mind-opening experience.'
Eric Kandel
Drawing on interviews with over three hundred families, Solomon
documents ordinary people making courageous choices, whether
considering prenatal screening for genetic disorders, cochlear
implants for the deaf, or gender reassignment surgery.
Parents and children are challenged to their limits, but often grow
closer as a result; many discover supportive communities of others
similarly affected; some are inspired to become activists, celebrating
the conditions they once feared.
Elegantly reported by a spectacularly original thinker, Far From
The Tree explores themes of generosity, acceptance and tolerance
- and shows how love for one's children can transcend every prejudice.
This crucial and revelatory book expands our definition of what it is
to be human.
'A brave and ambitious work, bringing together science, culture
and a powerful empathy. Solomon tells us that we have more in common
with each other - even with those who seem anything but normal -
than we would ever have imagined.' Malcolm Gladwell
Andrew Solomon is a journalist and lecturer of politics, culture and
psychology who writes regularly for the
New Yorker
,
Newsweek
, and the
Guardian
. He is a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Cornell University and Special
Adviser on LGBT Affairs to Yale University's Department of Psychiatry.
His highly acclaimed international study of depression,
The Noonday
Demon
won the 2001 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2002
Pulitzer Prize. He lives with his husband and son in New York and
London.
