January & February 2014: Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity (Solomon)

Post date: Mar 03, 2014 6:23:43 AM

Thanks to Maggie for hosting the January meeting and Susan for hosting our February meeting. We broke up our discussion of the Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity over two months, as the book is quite long. It is a fascinating and worthwhile book, although not an easy read, and we had a lively discussion, and we got the added bonus of a visit from Ginny from England at the second meeting as well.

A number of people felt that the book dragged a bit, and perhaps had too many case studies, but others felt that they were useful, and that once they got used to the pace and large number of stories, they were happy with the choices he made. Everybody was moved at what many of these parents and children faced, as who wouldn't be. Various people had different reactions to the question, "What would be the hardest to deal with?". Schizophrenia and autism were high on several lists. The ethics surrounding early life decisions for babies with multiple severe disabilities was a topic we pondered, among many others. Once you get the ball rolling in a hospital setting, it is difficult to stop it. The likely impending loss of Deaf culture, at least in the developed world, was also an interesting topic. As might be expected with a book this long and diverse, our conversations ranged over many topics, too numerous to cover. Although we had a few quibbles, we were all glad to have read the book.