Andrew Solomon Boeken

From the winner of the National Book Award and the National Books Critics’ Circle Award—and one of the most original thinkers of our time—a riveting collection of essays about places in dramatic transition. Far and Away collects Andrew Solomon’s writings about places undergoing seismic shifts—political, cultural, and spiritual. Chronicling his stint on the barricades in Moscow in 1991, when he joined artists in resisting the coup whose failure ended the Soviet Union, his 2002 account of the rebirth of culture in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, his insightful appraisal of a Myanmar seeped in contradictions as it slowly, fitfully pushes toward freedom, and many other stories of profound upheaval, this book provides a unique window onto the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments alter. A journalist and essayist of remarkable perception and prescience, Solomon captures the essence of these cultures. Ranging across seven continents and twenty-five years, Far and Away takes a magnificent journey into the heart of extraordinarily diverse experiences, yet Solomon finds a common humanity wherever he travels. Illuminating the development of his own genius, his stories are always intimate and often both funny and deeply moving.

Persoonlijk relaas over de depressie van de schrijver, afgewisseld met meer algemene beschouwingen over deze aandoening.

Solomon tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children but also find profound meaning in doing so.

WITH A NEW EPILOGUE BY THE AUTHOR Like Primo Levi's The Periodic Table, The Noonday Demon digs deep into personal history, as Andrew Solomon narrates, brilliantly and terrifyingly, his own agonising experience of depression. Solomon also portrays the pain of others, in different cultures and societies whose lives have been shattered by depression and uncovers the historical, social, biological, chemical and medical implications of this crippling disease. He takes us through the halls of mental hospitals where some of his subjects have been imprisoned for decades; into the research labs; to the burdened and afflicted poor, rural and urban. He talks to faith healers and voyages around the world in a quest for folk wisdom. He analyses the medications of today as well as reviewing the politics of diagnosis and treatment and, perhaps most significantly, he looks at the vital role of will and love in the process of recovery.

Exploring the complex dynamics of the mother-daughter relationship, renowned psychologist Martha Manning offers insights into how this bond can evolve without being severed. She emphasizes the importance of empathy in fostering understanding and healing damaged connections. Through humor and truth, Manning provides practical tools to strengthen these ties and celebrate the unique joys and challenges that come with this lifelong commitment, encouraging both emotional growth and independence.

Harry, the narrator of Senior New York Times Magazine writer Andrew Solomon's first novel, is a young expatriate pianist. When Harry's mother is diagnosed with cancer, she blames her suffering on his homosexuality. Part elegy, part confession, above all an intense, vivid and moving exploration of a mother/son relationship.