My Amazon and Goodreads review of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity (Rating 3): Exhaustive but Exhausting. Defying the adage that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Andrew Solomon explores families in which a child lands yards away. Given that all children fall at least some distance from the parental trunk, the book is also valuable to a general readership. Balancing skepticism with openness and compassion, Solomon asks whether differences should be seen as illnesses or identities, curses or blessings, limitations or spurs to growth. When, if ever, is treatment warranted? There are no easy answers for individuals or a diverse society as a whole. The book’s main drawback is that it should have been edited down. A lot. By relating each of the hundreds of stories he collected, Solomon blurs them into an indistinguishable mass. Better to have chosen a few or crafted composites. By contrast, Solomon’s last chapter, about the creation of one family — his — is the most memorable. Although he is telling his own story, it is the least self-indulgent writing in the book.
