You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by karen_devries
The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit
5.0
I love the way that Solnit thinks, and I love the way that she writes about what she thinks. I heard her read aloud from this book on her recent book tour, and the themes it takes up -- story, empathy, Alzheimer's and the loss of self, metamorphosis, and different registers of intimacy with those near and the far -- resonated with me on a number of levels. The book pulled me in immediately with tales of apricots and her mother's steady decline. The further the stories moved away from that centering tale, the less captivated I was by the narrative. It was still all interesting. Just not captivating. I may have wanted something from it that it was never prepared to give.
Things I particularly loved about it: the deft and masterful interweaving of many kinds of stories, the nuanced and considered attention to both Buddhist and Christian thought and practice, and the ongoing meditation on the self. I hadn't expected the flat affect of Solnit's voice, and I found it unsettling throughout. I'm not sure if that's a weakness or a strength. It certainly illustrated the sense of being "faraway nearby." Regardless, it's masterfully crafted.
I put the book down several times during summer busyness and then came back to it last night in a fit of insomnia. The final chapters returned more directly to the apricots and mother/daughter relationships and I was again captivated. I struggled with whether or not to give this book 4 or 5 stars, and I first went with 4 simply because I don't think I'll reread it even though several sentences and paragraphs are surely worth it. Instead, I want to read more of Solnit's other works. In the final analysis, however, I decided to give it 5 stars for sheer artistic brilliance in composition.
Things I particularly loved about it: the deft and masterful interweaving of many kinds of stories, the nuanced and considered attention to both Buddhist and Christian thought and practice, and the ongoing meditation on the self. I hadn't expected the flat affect of Solnit's voice, and I found it unsettling throughout. I'm not sure if that's a weakness or a strength. It certainly illustrated the sense of being "faraway nearby." Regardless, it's masterfully crafted.
I put the book down several times during summer busyness and then came back to it last night in a fit of insomnia. The final chapters returned more directly to the apricots and mother/daughter relationships and I was again captivated. I struggled with whether or not to give this book 4 or 5 stars, and I first went with 4 simply because I don't think I'll reread it even though several sentences and paragraphs are surely worth it. Instead, I want to read more of Solnit's other works. In the final analysis, however, I decided to give it 5 stars for sheer artistic brilliance in composition.