My copy of Far from the Tree by Andrew Solomon arrived. I haven’t gotten to start it yet, mainly because of the kids always interrupting whenever I sit to read. But I’m really eager about reading it, especially with all the publicity surrounding the book. Take this article at Huffington Post, for example:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/lisa-belkin/andrew-solomon-far-from-the-tree_b_2118744.html
What jumped out at me—and obviously that’s why the writer chose to use it as an opening to the article—was this:
“There is no such thing as reproduction,” Andrew Solomon writes — an opening sentence that may well displace Dr. Spock’s “Trust yourself” as the most important parenting advice in history.
“When two people decide to have a baby, they engage in an act of production,” the author continues in his newest masterwork, “Far From The Tree: Parents, Children, and The Search For Identity.” “The widespread use of the word reproduction for this activity, with its implication that two people are but braiding themselves together, is at best a euphemism to comfort prospective parents before they get in over their heads.”
This is fascinating to me, especially as a Deaf mother to four Deaf children. All my friends who have started the book have said they’re “riveted.” Stay tuned.