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“Far From the Tree” Makes Beijing News 2018 Best Books List


Far from the Tree (PRC edition). Translated by Jane Xie Niu. Changsha: Hunan Science and Technology Press, June 2018.

Far from the Tree (PRC edition). Translated by Jane Xie Niu. Changsha: Hunan Science and Technology Press, June 2018.

我们常说,世上没有完美的原生家庭,只有“足够好”的原生家庭。而《背离亲缘》让我们看到,“足够好”是一件多么需要运气的事、是一个多么难以达到的标准。作者安德鲁·所罗门,用十年的时间走访了300多个拥有“异常”孩子的家庭,这些家庭各有各的不幸,并且总是经受着异样的目光。

走进他们的生活,就是摒弃旧有的恐慌、歧视、异见的过程。在安德鲁·所罗门的讲述中,我们能随他看到痛苦,看到残酷和多样,但也看到最深沉的爱,并且不由地重新思考对生命的判断与认知。

We often say that there is no perfect family in the world, only a “good enough” family. And Far From the Tree shows us that “good enough” is a matter of luck and difficult standards. Author Andrew Solomon spent more than a decade visiting more than 300 families with “abnormal” children, each with their own misfortunes and always from a different view.

Walking into these families’ lives is a process of abandoning old anxieties, prejudices, and criticisms. In Andrew Solomon’s account, we can witness their pain, the cruelty they experience, and their diversity, but we also see the deepest love, and cannot help but reconsider our judgments and perspective on life.

(For other titles on 2018 Best Books list, please visit Beijing News.)