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ChaoticMissAdventures
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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Pickpick

Low pick, pick w/a caution
This was entirely too long. I think it would be just as impactful and would reach a larger audience if it was half the length.
With that I am impressed with Solomon's research. I also think he is a study on how to slip yourself into a book. When he spoke of his own story it never felt intrusive and always was there to relate to a point.
While the book itself is too dense, his writing at the sentence level is not and 👇

mcctrish Well done!!!! 6h
ChaoticMissAdventures His writing is easy to read and follow. I think people need to be cautious going into this. There is a lot of interviews where the parents talk openly of regret and even wishing their children dead. There is moments where doctors tell new parents news in the most callous, horrendous way (if nothing this book will affirm that not all doctors need to have their jobs). There is hope nestled throughout, it doesn't outweigh the heaviness of the subject 6h
ChaoticMissAdventures @mcctrish thanks! It felt like being back in college! I made myself read a chapter a day, but I skipped "Rape" I just couldn't do it. 6h
See All 6 Comments
mcctrish That‘s how I‘m doing it and I just finished “Rape” I needed him to be more angry about health care betraying women 6h
Suet624 It‘s funny you mentioned feeling as though you were back in college. When I looked at your photo, my first thought was that looks like a textbook! 6h
HettyG I enjoyed this book, but also I love your coffee mug. 5h
25 likes6 comments
quote
ChaoticMissAdventures
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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"I am reminded of a friend who said that when she found out her husband couldn't fill her needs, she changed her needs." - No examples.

WTF. I am struggling with this book. There is a thread of misogyny in it that is really grating on me. I have noticed that in most cases he is introducing couples telling what the husband does but not the wife. And then the wife becomes a SAHM. SAH moms are great but let's give them more identity.

willaful I read just the section on autism and really disliked it. 4d
ChaoticMissAdventures @willaful - @mcctrish commented earlier he seems to focus on the most extreme cases, which I guess is effective in some ways but can be overwhelming. I am feeling conflicted about the book. I am half in. 4d
29 likes2 comments
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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I finished the chapter on Autism last night. This book was published in 2012 and it reflects the issue I often have with nonfiction, it is out of date when I get to it. Here it is okay, the past is still relevant and I am glad he was firm on vaccines. I have forgotten how brutal severe Autism can be. These days it feels like half the people I know are getting diagnosed and they are all "normal" with a small hyper fixation.
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ChaoticMissAdventures If you are reading this beware this chapter has a section on filicide (parents killing their children) as someone who is child free this section was honestly horrifying. Especially the results in the US where parents that kill their disabled children often get very light sentencing. I seriously thought at first he had made a typo. 3 years?? I haven't looked it up I don't want to know we have not changed there. 5d
mcctrish I just finished the section on Disability and he wasn‘t talking about lower case d disability- the cases were all EXTREME which of course exist, but it feels like a disservice to everyone who has a disabled child that doesn‘t match his criteria 5d
ChaoticMissAdventures @mcctrish interesting, I am hoping to get to that chapter tomorrow (today is schizophrenia) in all the chapters so far he seems to grab a range of people, but in Autism I can also see this extreme even with a smattering of easier cases. I do appreciate how he is bringing up eugenics often and is obviously against it (so far) 5d
mcctrish I feel like I learned a lot from the schizophrenia chapter, it‘s a better chapter imo 5d
ChaoticMissAdventures @mcctrish I feel like there is a lost opportunity here to talk about the sandwich generation and disabled parents. The subtitle is children, parents and search for identity I wonder why he decided to not look at disability later in life. 4d
29 likes5 comments
review
LiseWorks
The Name Jar | Yangsook Choi
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Pickpick

A little Korean girl immigrated and found her name too hard to pronounce for her new country. She begins a name jar. What will she pick? Will she find that her name is best?
#ISpyBingoOct @TheAromaofBooks

IriDas I love this book. 😊 1w
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 1w
20 likes2 comments
blurb
mcctrish
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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I am committed to finishing this, hopefully in November but absolutely in 2025. I started it in 2014, it was a gift. My plan then was to read a chapter a month. It is so full of information and real life stories, it can be overwhelming and break your heart. Today I read schizophrenia; “autism is characterized by an over abundance of synaptic connectivity, schizophrenia is marked by a dearth of it.” #nonfictionnovember #finishwhatyoustarted

dabbe That's a W😮WZA book! ♥️🍁🧡 2w
mcctrish @dabbe for 10 years I‘ve hoped to find it on audio 🙏🏻 and now I just have to get on with it 2w
janeycanuck Oh, wow, that sounds intense. You‘ve totally got this! (edited) 2w
mcctrish @janeycanuck here‘s to avoiding reality some more as I am want to do 😂😂😂 always with my head stuck in a book, damming the consequences 1w
44 likes3 stack adds4 comments
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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November TBR

I have grabbed a few short nonfiction books from the library to balance out the tag and dive into #NonfictionNovermber

GinaKButler I love your plant ledge! What a pretty spot! 2w
32 likes1 comment
blurb
ChaoticMissAdventures
Far From the Tree | Solomon, Andrew
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2 weeks in!
2 books down!

#10beforetheend

I am starting the tagged today, but it is a big one and might take me a minute so I am going to try to fit in The Message also this week.

CoverToCoverGirl Yay! You‘re on track!🙂 2w
29 likes1 comment
review
Hooked_on_books
The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje
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Mehso-so

This is a supremely frustrating book. The writing is great, but it is in desperate need of editing. It goes on and on in a way that just makes it a slog, then finally perks up in the last quarter. The only reason I stuck with it was that I was determined not to bail on two #NBAshortlist for translated lit books in a row. If you try to read it and get bogged down, I recommend skipping forward to chapter 11 and going from there.

BarbaraBB Thanks for the heads up. I want to read it too but it‘s such a chunkster. I now know what to expect. 2w
squirrelbrain Gah! I was so looking forward to this one….. 2w
dabbe 🖤🐾🖤 2w
42 likes3 comments
blurb
squirrelbrain
The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje
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Another 4 books on the National Book Awards longlist. I had no idea the tagged book was such a chunkster until it arrived!

I also have 2 on order from eBay but they‘re not arriving for a few weeks yet.

I‘m reading The Antidote in print - it‘s too early to say what I think yet. I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio and, goodness me, it‘s long! 😬

AnneCecilie The Sisters is amazing and worth its length 1mo
squirrelbrain I‘m quite a long way through it @annececilie and usually I don‘t mind a lot of detail but it‘s just starting to grate on me a little bit. 😬 1mo
AnneCecilie @squirrelbrain I love details and have also read several of his previous novels and enjoyed them. 1mo
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Hooked_on_books I‘m also listening to The Sisters on audio! I‘m at the 60% mark and so far I‘m a little underwhelmed. I really feel like the first half didn‘t know whether to center the narrator or the sisters and ended up a little disjointed. I don‘t know that I would have made it through in print. And I didn‘t know the tagged was so chunky, either! 😱 1mo
squirrelbrain I‘m probably around the same point as you @Hooked_on_books - I‘m struggling with knowing / understanding the timescales as it seems to jump about all over the place. Funnily enough a blurb on the bag of the tagged book says ‘not a moment too long‘ (or wtef)! 😜 1mo
BarbaraBB The Dutch one is a chunkster but she‘s such a good writer. You‘ll probably fly through it! 1mo
60 likes6 comments
review
Mattsbookaday
The Remembered Soldier | Anjet Daanje
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Pickpick

The Remembered Soldier, by Anjet Daanje (2019, transl. 2025)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Premise: A former soldier experiencing severe amnesia and PTSD struggles to recover his memories and life after he is brought home from an asylum by a woman who identifies him as her husband.

Review: This is a stunning, deeply moving literary love story that will reward patient readers. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday I say patient because it‘s well over 500 pages long, and it employs long, run-on sentences and paragraphs. But the pay-off is beyond worth any annoyance. This will almost certainly be among my top reads of the year.

Bookish Pair: The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa (2005, transl. 2009)
2mo
BarbaraBB Great review. I loved The Housekeeper and Daanjes other book (which hasn‘t been published in English yet) so this is a must read for me! (edited) 2mo
13 likes2 stack adds2 comments