Far from the Tree

Instead of starting with the question, "How can I change my child's behavior?" Andrew Solomon starts by asking, "How does my child experience the world?"

He tells the stories of parents who have struggled to accept that their children are profoundly different from them and offers a deeply optimistic view of relationships and family. This book takes a fascinating dive into different ways of being human – among them, deafness, dwarfism, transgenderism, autism – and inspires us to look at our children through new eyes.

Far From the Tree is an astonishing book. Andrew Solomon is simply a master of combining research with interviews—the very challenge I take on in my book. As he looks at the diverse identities of people who fall “far from the tree,” I find myself both undone by the compassion of loving parents and endlessly moved by these individuals we so casually dismiss as The Other. No other book summarizes such a vast amount of research—almost encyclopedically—but personalizes every disability, every exceptionality, every person, with beautifully detailed stories. One last tip: Do not feel obligated to read the more than… show more.

As a parent of a child with multiple disabilities, I am grateful for the framework that this powerful book creates: that parenting a child with a disability or who is different in some way than the parent expected can be a profound and rewarding experience. Andrew Solomon’s writing is a profound gift.