Far & Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change: Seven Continents, Twenty-Five Years

by Andrew Solomon

A New York Times Notable Book

From the winner of the National Book Award and the National Books Critics’ Circle Award—and one of the most original thinkers of our time—a riveting collection of essays about places in dramatic transition.

Far and Away collects Andrew Solomon’s writings about places undergoing seismic shifts—political, cultural, and spiritual. Chronicling his stint on the barricades in Moscow in 1991, when he joined artists in resisting the coup whose failure ended the Soviet Union, his 2002 account of the rebirth of culture in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, his insightful appraisal of a Myanmar seeped in contradictions as it slowly, fitfully pushes toward freedom, and many other stories of profound upheaval, this book provides a unique window onto the very idea of social change. With his signature brilliance and compassion, Solomon demonstrates both how history is altered by individuals, and how personal identities are altered when governments alter.

A journalist and essayist of remarkable perception and prescience, Solomon captures the essence of these cultures. Ranging across seven continents and twenty-five years, Far and Away takes a magnificent journey into the heart of extraordinarily diverse experiences, yet Solomon finds a common humanity wherever he travels. Illuminating the development of his own genius, his stories are always intimate and often both funny and deeply moving.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Essays, Memoir, History, Journalism, Politics

592 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2016

About the author

Andrew Solomon writes about politics, culture, and health. He lives in New York and London. He has written for many publications--such as the New York Times, The New Yorker and Artforum--on topics including depression, Soviet artists, the cultural rebirth of Afghanistan, Libyan politics, and deaf culture. He is also a Contributing Writer for Travel and Leisure. In 2008, he was awarded the Humanitarian Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry for his contributions to the field of mental health. He has a staff appointment as a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Cornell Medical School (Weill-Cornell Medical College).

Reviews

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

"No one had forewarned me, however, that if you live abroad any good while, the notion of home is permanently compromised. You will always be missing another place, and no national logic will ever again seem fully obvious to you."

'Far & Away' is a beautiful collection of travel essays. Most of the pieces in this collection have originally been written for the New York Times, some are quite old, some more recent. Solomon - art historian and psychologist by training, but also notorious traveller and gay rights activist - has bundled them together, edited or expanded some and added an endnote to each story, written from the perspective of today, adding the knowledge of what happened in the years after the individual stories were published.

This book is extremely informative and rich in the scope of themes. The places he portrays are all in the midst of severe cultural or political change. Whether it's Russia after the end of the cold war, Libya, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Myanmar: he doesn't seem to aim for bird's perspective, but rather for immersion. Some of my favourite essays - not necessarily from an objective perspective but because of personal interest - where the pieces on Russian, South African and Chinese artists, as well as the article on Rwanda. Solomon's writing is stylistically spotless and often very witty. But what impressed me more is the palpable effort of a writer to see a culture, a place, an individual not through a foreigners lens with the preconceptions that often come as baggage of an own cultural backdrop, but to adapt to the lens of 'the other'. It's the embrace of 'otherness' that makes him the deeply emphatic writer he is, and maybe that embrace works both ways:
"I understood that going where I would actually be foreign might distract people from the more intimate nature of my defining otherness. "

Highly recommended.

with many thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC

[Brian Griffith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solomon does very extensive visiting in countries off the beaten tourist track (for example Mongolia, Ghana, or Greenland), and I enjoyed how he eagerly fills up holes in his experience of the world. He seems to be an almost ridiculously sophisticated connoisseur of art, food, ideas, etc. When he visits a country, he commonly hangs out and parties with the nation's avant garde artists. But he's also concerned with mental health and depression, and some of his trips are focused on mental health caretakers dealing with traumas that beggar belief in places like Cambodia and Rwanda. Also, traveling itself is Solomon's therapeutic practice for opening up and really living.

In talking to people of every description, he often gets quotes that capture the local drama in ways both revealing and hilarious. He goes to Russia several times, and in the 1990s talks with a new Russian capitalist investor who works for the "Foundation for the Privatization of State Industry Through International Investment." The man describes his work as "moving what already exists from one set of hands to another." He adds, "the more I take for myself, the more I help Russia."

Over a decade later, Solomon goes back and visits Patriarch Krill of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch explains that Putin's leadership has been a "miracle"; he has restored greatness and religion to Russia. Church membership has risen from around a third to three-quarters of the nation's people. Concerning Putin's opponents, the Patriarch warns, "liberalism will lead to legal collapse and then the Apocalypse."

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Solomon's previous two books, Noonday Demon (on depression) and Far From the Tree (on having children very different from you/your image of what they should be), are among my favorite nonfiction works of the past decade or so. They are long as hell, but I frequently and unhesitatingly recommend them whenever the subjects come up. For a lot of reasons, but mostly I guess because Solomon takes these vast topics and brilliantly fuses both historical and cultural overviews with intimate reporting on individual lives. So even though I knew going in that Far and Away was simply a collection of magazine pieces starting I guess the early 1990s and through 2014--all are slightly reworked or expanded, with intros and codas that update the material--I still wanted to see what the man had to say.

The theme here is societies/nations/cultures "on the brink of change", which can mean the lives of artists in Russia, South Africa, China, and Afghanistan under various regimes; rituals among remote tribes of Solomon Islands; Libya before and after the fall of Qaddafi; Antarctica in the throes of warming.. that sort of thing. Some of it feels a bit like school, and I must say my favorites pieces were the chapters pulled from his books--he's also a bit forgetful that not everyone can spend thousands (tens of thousands!) of dollars and tour the world just because "travel is essential for understanding the human condition"--but Solomon is so smart and charming, clear-eyed and self-effacing, insatiably curious and generous with his insights that, for the most part, he pulls it off. Mostly for fanboys though.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

What this guy doesn't know isn't worth knowing. He goes everywhere, talks to everyone, and reports back. So this is a collection of his travel articles covering seven continents in twenty-five years. There's no general theme that I can tell. The articles are as varied as his description of being left adrift at the Great Barrier Reef to spending time in Moscow with artists at the first Sotheby's auction there. He talks about a trip to Antartica and a ceremony in Senegal where he was covered in ram's blood as a part of a cure for depression. It's an amazing journey and he's an interesting character.

[Anne]

Far and Away is a nice mixture of things: it starts out with pieces about artists in Russia and China, for example, but there are also some pieces written for travel magazines which are more about the travel and the places itself. It deals with the astoundingly beautiful and the shockingly awful and Solomon can pull this off because his writing is just so good and captivating. He doesn't romanticise or generalise and tries to approach everyone with interest and empathy, which is always a good starting point in my book.

The only thing this book misses is also what makes it so varied: it's not very cohesive. He talks about snorkeling in a divine location in one piece and meeting victims of rape during war in the other. I really like the diversity of the topics but these large shifts in tone, topic and gravity could also make it a bit less appealing - but I guess that's up to the individual reader. It also helps if you just lay aside the book sometimes if you're not in the mood for either levity or gravity in a specific moment (that's what I did).

[Kathrin W · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because Andrew Solomon's book on depression, Noonday Demon, is among my very favorites. His compassionate, surprising and highly intelligent writing is on display here as well.

This isn't a light book about travel adventures, but rather an eclectic collection of essays spanning 25 years and countries as diverse as Greenland, Mongolia and the Solomon islands. Especially the first few essays have a strong focus on Avent Garde art scene, while later articles focus on more diverse topics such as how Cambodian women are living with their trauma after the genocide, an Indonesien Village where nearly everyone knows a local sign language, or the wonders of Chinese cooking.

I loved the wide range of topics and also that the author provided additional contextualization before and after the pieces.

[Mircea Poeana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andrew Solomon este un calator si un fin cunoscator al naturii umane.
Un ghid rafinat, un consumator elevat de cultura.
Voiajele sale pe tot globul sunt bine orientate de catre o busola a spiritului si culturii.
Citesti, dar mai ales meditezi, concluzionand ca sunt mai multe lucruri care ne apropie pe noi, oamenii, decat cele care ne despart conventional.
Romania apare si ea pe aceasta harta.

[Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Far and Away” is a collection of Andrew Solomon’s remarkable articles about his worldwide travels over the past 25 years. Although the articles report on these travel experiences, this is certainly not a light-weight or trivial travelogue. Rather, Solomon writes in a very intimate and perceptive manner about individual people, their economic and political situations, art, culture, and social change. Other reporters may provide an overview of some of the locations and events covered in this collection, but they do not contribute the singular level of insight, understanding and wisdom that Solomon does. This is an informative and thought provoking read with a great deal to consider and absorb. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been following Solomon's writing for years and find it increasingly compelling. Curiously, many of the texts selected for this volume were written over two decades ago, yet his voice speaks to me as if he were across the table having coffee. That's how relevant and prescient his observations were/are. Even so, it felt strangely current to be reading reflections (in print form! not a tweet!) on the terrorist attacks on the Bataclan last November.

The chapters on China, Taiwan, and the former USSR were less meaningful for me, perhaps because of my own lacunae in the politics, histories, and arts of these regions. I don't fault Solomon's writing at all; rather, I've decided to explore these topics extratextually and return to the book once I do. Think about it -- only the most skilled writers ever accomplish this!

I look forward to tackling another of his major works.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get through this book. I found the writing too pretentious and almost condescending. Life is too short to force myself through a book.

[Gremrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it was not exactly what I expected, and sometimes the reading was quite tedious and weird, but I liked quite a lot in this book anyway and still think that Andrew Solomon is one of the most original and deeply thinking modern journalists. I would be happy to read more of his books and, especially, to have them in paper form at home — probably some day I will.

Far and Away was claimed to be a collection of stories about different countries/nations that are undergoing some landmark changes in their history, culture, social development, etc. It also encompasses a wide range of places and time points — from Russia in 1990s to post-genocidal Rwanda to rapidly modernizing China to post-Taliban Afghanistan to Brazil fighting poverty and violance to arising and stumbling Myanmar, and so on. Looks very interesting and promising, right? The problem is that the collection is quite inconsistent and somewhat “lazy,” from my point of view. Probably, I just did not understand many important messages and the beauty of subtle metaphores in some of the stories, but I had an impression that the author simply gathered together all his articles about travels into various countries, both serious journalistic tasks and his personal trips around the world for rest and pleasure. Sometimes the material collected during such travels was absolutely gorgeous in terms of the category of “Reporting from the Brink of Change,” as I understand it, and they were interesting, informative, thought-provoking; but sometimes I had a feeling that many of the stories were included in the book just “for volume” and for an impression of a larger diversity. Moreover, the structure of the book is quite confusing, and I believe that the first stories are the most strange and discouraging ones (yes, especially about Russia — and I presumed that it would be one of the most interesting for me). Talking about paramount changes in a society through its art might be a very cool idea, and I really, really tried to embrace it, but it’s quite boring and bewildering _to read_ about art rather than _to look_ at it, you know. Not to mention that, again, often the messages of “Reporting from the Brink of Change” looked too “subtle” for me, probably because of the lack of the necessary informative historical/cultural background.

In any case, it was a good slow reflective reading, and I eventually learned quite a lot of very interesting stuff from it. As I said, the book might look very discouraging from the beginning, and some particular chapters just do not match with the whole concept of “the brink of change,” but there are many and many really interesting stories, either quite comprehensive in the description of a society or paying attention to some specific but very distinctive and peculiar aspects of a society.

I also think that many of the things that were described and discussed there are extremely important and valid for modern Ukraine (which is one of the first candidates to be reviewed as a society “on the brink of change,” and I am somewhat disappointed that Andrew Solomon did not choose Ukraine for this book as well).

For example, one of the repeating messages in the book is the thought that the societies that were previously oppressed by their own governments or foreign colonizers and are formally free now have to fight for this freedom every day, fight diligently and fiercely, because the democracy is a collective effort of all the people, and it must be learned, worked out, actively processed with due attention to all national/cultural/historical specifics of the nations, and so on. That’s why no democracy can be “imported” in principle — it is always a huge work for the society, which also often simultaneously suffers from wars, internal conflicts, poverty, heavy “burdens of the history,” and many other problems, depending on the society. That’s why democratization is so difficult and unevenly paced in different countries and sometimes, unfortunately, is not very successful at all. Those are very important observations that we, Ukrainians, are not realizing properly, but we should think about it a lot and discuss this stuff among ourselves, because the societies that are already democratic just do not understand the very problem of _becoming democratic_ and cannot offer any meaningful help in this. Examples from different countries with different experiences of “democratization processes” are very useful for proper understanding of the very principle of the democracy.

As always with Andrew Solomon, I saved a ton of quotes, but it would be impossible and inhumane to copy all them here, so I’ll just list some of the aspects I liked/found the most interesting:

– Unexpected for me problems that South Africa has due to its multiethnicity and multi-language policy, and the overall bureaucracy issue there. There is also a hugely important problem of “apartheid first”:
“No one in South Africa will publicly acknowledge the absurdity of anything but apartheid, because apartheid is so much worse than whatever is wrong with the country now. But everyone is aware of spending a great deal of time in an absurd theater of symbolic respect.”
Surely, the country has a lot of other problems and challenges, but apartheid may be a thing that stays on the way to the proper attention to these things. I feel that we, Ukrainians, also have such “apartheid first” things in our society… and it’s a big taboo in our minds. We should overcome it some day.

– A very peculiar case with Chinese art from the National Palace Museum in Taiwan and a lot of cool background information about the historical and cultural identity of Taiwanese people and their relationships with China. Again, many acute parallels with Ukraine-Russia-West relationships and identity problems.

– Everything about China. China was presented in several articles about random things, but each contributes something interesting and important to our understanding of this society. Among those, I was especially striken by reflections of intelligent people about the legacy of Mao and the Cultural Revolution. Similarly to Soviet times and Stalin, the Cultural Revolution and Mao are imbedded into people’s minds as something great, important, amazing, and, most remarkably, as something “indispensable,” essential for their identity.

– Surprising and reflective things about depression among Greenlanders and its specifics.

– Problems with adjustments to a new, post-Taliban society in Afghanistan. I was especially moved and inspired by the personality of Zamzama Shakila. I even googled her picture on the Internet, because you should SEE some people in your own eyes, you know. Nevertheless, women are still afraid to go without cover on the streets there, and public women (who appear on television, for example) are murdered… And, still, here we also have a beautiful story about the music that helps “to break the silence” in the country still full of fear. Such little stories really give a vibrant feeling of the society, don’t they? You perceive the country in a much more complex and meaningful way.

– Very interesting story about Brazil overcoming its “favela problem.” Really, it’s so fascinating and full of empowering lessons, that I do not undestand why I haven’t heard about it before — it should have been in articles, movies, and blogs all around the world. Again, we NEED this experience here, in Ukraine — we do not have favelas, of course, but we have many comparable things that should be eliminated through a united work of force (police, army, government) and love (social services, education, integration).

– Mind-blowing accounts about recent history of Myanmar and Libya. Those are very complex and detailed stories, with many surprising discoveries and, again, parallels with our society and its current problems and challenges. I would say that these chapters look to me the most “authentic” with respect to the original idea of the book, “Reporting from the Brink of Change,” and I would be absolutely happy if the whole book consisted of such overviews about different nations.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend this book wholeheartedly — as I said, I myself sometimes had a hard time reading it, despite my great loyalty to Andrew Solomon, but I am glad that I finished it and learned so many interesting things. I would love to discuss many aspects from the book with somebody, but I understand that the book is not an easy experience.

[Maria]

The book consists of essays, articles and parts of other Solomon's books from different parts of the world(The Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost, which I previously read, is a way more consistent one-piece story that makes almost 20% of Far&Away).

Best part here, I would argue, is reading how much hope countries had for their development in the 90s and early 00s, and looking at where it got them (and us). I can hardly imagine reading the parts about Russia, China, Libya and Myanmar and staying an optimist about the world in 2022.

The text is very uneven and talks about art way more than I expected (even though it's not entirely a bad thing). I would love it to be more consistent, or even have some type of narrative, because without it it looks like a tale about the world of hope we lost, with occasional inserts on failed upper-class adventures.

I enjoyed it to some extent, but I am definitely grateful to it for making me dig deeper into historical context and current state of countries I've previously only saw on the map, but never gave a good thought to.

[Susan]

Very well read by the author.
Clearly a subject he’s passionate about.
But many of the stories and the people were very dated—like twenty years ago and more. For this type of travel book, that’s extremely difficult to overcome.

[Kathy Riley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent memoir--based on journalism done in the 1990s and 2000s updated. One of my favorite authors. He blends his journeys through a variety of countries with observations of changes over time.

[Lucy Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first couple chapters have a big focus on contemporary art, which went over my head a bit. 2-3 stars imo. But around the Turkey chapter, it becomes more of a travel log ,which I really enjoyed!

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: this isn't a book review as much as my story about this book.

Some years ago (at least 15), my depressed then husband handed me Solomon's "The Noonday Demon" in order to for me to understand what he was going through (he has since been diagnosed with something else but that's irrelevant here). What happened: I read "The Noonday Demon" with great interest from cover to cover (yes, I've had the blues myself at times too). When we divorced, I kept the copy (ha haaa). So...when I heard this book and title mentioned on the New York Times Book Review Podcast (where most of my book list comes from) I knew his name. I had no idea that he had any expertise other than depression. So when my book group was looking for titles for 2016, I spontaneously shouted out this title. I did not know what a grand choice it was. (My book group consists of a wonderful group of liberal-minded, well travelled, and very well read Unitarian Church-attending women. It was a HUGE hit. Everyone found something in it to enjoy and think about.

For our book group dinners, we prepare a meal based on the location of the book. This one had many choices. (I've been to Greenland and knew that raw seat meat or fermented auk was out). One of us has travelled to Afghanistan and one to Syria. Su also found the Afghan people warm and friendly. Three of us have knit good to send to "Afghans for Afghans" in the past. There was my choice. I prepared a lamb dish, a chicken dish, chai, and a spiced rice dish and we feasted.

If you like to travel and read about parts unknown, this is a great read. I listened to the audio version, read by Solomon. Don't let his deep voice, a but plodding at times, put you off. His elocution is wonderful, he does not read too slowly, he does ALL the accents, and delivers humor well. If you aren't interested in avant garde art, skip the first chapters but stick with it. It's worth it.

[Lei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories about the places the author went, some are interesting, some are kind of boring; some have deep thoughts , some just shallow fun. Here are a few quotes and notes I marked down when reading the book:

Three days in August; Page 61.
" The artists found out long ago that the way to combat a government that presents lies as if they were the truth is to tell the truth as if it were joke."

An awakening after the Taliban :
"There is a kind of joy that can be known only by people who have grieved deeply; happiness is not only a quality of its own but also an effect of contrast."

Song of solomons :
---Marovo lagoon, the world largest island enclosed lagoon

Museum without walls , Japan :
---Benesse house on Naoshima island

Circle of fire: letter from Libya
"Qaddafi is very happy to have corrupt people working for him," a Qaddafi insider said to me. "He'd much rather have people who want money than people who want power, and so he looks the other way and no one threatens his total control of the country."
"Corruption is a problem, and sometimes a solution."

[Caleb · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've had an amazing run of largely great books this year but I missed here. Pitched as a great travelogue, it's a repackaging of the author's works for 30 years as a journalist and psychologist. A huge number relate to modern art and re-editing 30 year old pieces on Chinese modern art seems like an exercise in name dropping then and now. Can't get it right every time.

[Eileen Breseman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't finish. His intro was very interesting with insights gained from his travels and I connected to his insights into the nature of travel. But after his first story about Russian glasnost artists of the early 80s-90s, I was disinterested in the subject matter.

[Beep · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't expecting so much on travel and/or art history. Was hoping for more psychology.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far and Away, by Andrew Solomon, captures one’s attention from the first chapter to the very end. In this enticing novel, Solomon documents his travels and experiences as a young journalist throughout changing times. From the streets of South Africa in the 90s, to the favelas of Rio, Solomon displays what life is like from the eyes of a local. Explore ideas of anthropology, psychology, environmental sciences and the unique arts of various regions of the world. Solomon’s style of writing is sophisticated and a pleasure to read; not a headache. This novel will impact one’s view of life and interpretation of world issues, as Solomon emphasizes the consideration of different cultural perspectives. The New York Times described his work, stating that “Solomon’s pieces occasionally read as though he is emptying his notebooks, with long, rambling quotes from a succession of interview subjects. Far more often his prose sparkles with insights and captivating description.” Solomon has very elegant ideas and word choice. Do not be intimidated; instead, take time with his work and appreciate what he has to offer in his writing. He speaks from experience; in the first chapter of this novel, he describes why he travels. He states, “Travel is a set of corrective lenses that helps focus the planet’s blurred reality.” Within the chapters of this novel, he explains what he learned from cultures throughout the world. He went to China, meeting hidden artists who had been shunned and hunted down for presenting their art, and learned a valuable lesson of freedom and creative rights. Some lessons were taught in a humorous way, other’s remorseful in nature. Everyone can take away something from this book; learn a new life lesson, educate themselves in history, or open their eyes just a little bit wider.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book begins with Andrew Solomon, then seven, learning about the Holocaust. (1). He kept asking his father questions about how such a thing could happen without getting a satisfactory explanation. "Pure evil" was the answer at least. In response, Solomon asked "Why didn't those Jews just leave when things got bad?"

His father responded "They had nowhere to go."

"My notion of absolute safety at home crumbled then and there. I would leave before the walls closed around the ghetto, before the train tracks were completed, before teh borders were sealed. If genocide ever threatened midtown Manhattan, I would be all set to father up my passport and head to some place where they'd be glad to have me." (1-2).

It ends with brutal homophobia in Ghana, brutal homophobia and anti-Romani prejudice in Romania, and the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. While the text does not make it explicit, Solomon's drive to travel -- to have a way to escape -- has not save hundreds of thousands of people who have died in my lifetime because they live in places where a critical mass of people and power do not want them.

Along the way we touch on murderous oppression in South Africa, a lovely safari in Zambia, a partially failed trip to Antarctica, and much much more.

I liked it. I'm impressed that so many of the pieces were written for travel and leisure magazines. But it always felt like the author was right at the verge of saying something deep and powerful about the world and our American place in it, and he never actually did.

[Yofish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more like 3.5 stars.

I think I would have liked it better not in book form---that is, as a bunch of magazine articles not really read consecutively. Most of the essays were interesting as standalone pieces, but reading them in sequence seemed… I dunno, repetitive?

His style has a strong hint of “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderlay again”. I’m just not all that interested in art and the ‘art scene,’ and reading about it in country after country just got me bored. (I did end up skipping a couple of essays. Shhhh.)

And the travel pieces were uniformly just way out there---no way that an actual human would be able to afford the time and/or money to do those things. Some had the feeling of just showing off. (I did feel bad for the people who saved up all their lives to go to Antarctica, and then they just couldn’t quite make it. But that was another thing: he didn’t really really try to get into their heads, because he was on an expense account, and just about to flit off to some other exotic place anyway.)

The essays about fairly exotic places (Myanmar, Brazil) that were actual reporting I did like more.

He does write well, and again, it would have been better (for me, anyway) to read maybe an essay a month for two years or something.

[Socrate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Când aveam vreo șapte ani, tata mi-a povestit despre Holocaust. Eram într-un Buick galben pe autostrada 9A din statul New York și il întrebasem dacă Pleasantville e, într-adevăr, un loc plăcut (pleasant). Nu știu cum a venit vorba de naziști câțiva kilometri mai târziu, dar îmi amintesc cum își făcuse impresia ca eu știu deja despre Soluția Finală, așa că nu avea un discurs pregătit despre lagărele de concentrare. Mi-a spus că oamenilor li se întâmplase asta pentru că erau evrei. Știam că și noi suntem evrei și am tras concluzia că, dacă am fi fost acolo în acea perioadă, am fi pățit același lucru. Am stăruit ca tata să-mi explice totul de cel puțin patru or fiindcă tot credeam că îmi scapă un fragment din poveste care ar fi făcut-o să capete sens. În cele din urma mi-a spus, cu o emfază care aproape a pus capăt conversației, că era vorba despre „răul pur". Însă mai aveam o întrebare:
-De ce n-au plecat evreii ăia când au văzut că lucrurile se înrăutățesc?
-N-aveau unde să se ducă, mi-a răspuns.
În acel moment, m-am hotărât că voi avea mereu unde să mă duc.

[Stephen Rynkiewicz]

Andrew Solomon's monologue for The Moth, in which he hires a ritual healer in Senegal, sent me to this anthology, a mix of travel writing and empathetic reporting from abroad about art world insiders and outsider or outcast communities. The n'deup sacrifice is here as recounted in Esquire, a dancing circle "to bring you back to joy" out of depression. ("I had to say, 'Spirits, leave me alone to complete the business of my life and know that I will never forget you.' And I thought, What a kind thing to say to the evil spirits you're exorcising, 'I'll never forget you.'") It's emblematic of his work, accepting the commonplace and the exotic as equally, simply human.

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Solomon begins this book on 25 years of travel with a long chapter that tells of his early life and then gives a context to the 28 articles that follow written from the early 1990s to 2015. His earlier articles concentrated on the role of visual artists living in conflicted countries, but then he moves on to more travel and politically-related articles. I found his writing to be clear. He brings out these various places and the thoughts of those he interviews very well. Much to learn about the world from this book and how things have changed during the past twenty-five years.

[Cheryl Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of essays about societies in transition, written over a thirty year period. Whether you are a world traveller or an armchair traveller, you will benefit from reading this book and 'growing up' with Mr. Solomon as he rubs shoulders with Soviet era artists, South African black and white artists, and, in fact, people of seven continents. There are some very personal stories in addition to political eye openers. My husband and I visited Myanmar 6 years ago or so, but Mr. Solomon's essay published in 2014 clarified so much of what we saw or thought we observed.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest book by my favorite non-fiction writer. Here Solomon collects a series of travel essays and memoirs he's written over the last 25 years and shares them with updates on the countries, locales, and people. While not an utter game changer like Atlas of Depression or Far From the Tree, it is still really, really good - and Solomon delivers fascinating vignettes. From meet Colonel Quadafi in Libya, to being painted in rooster blood in West Africa - the book was enlightening, informative, and funny.

[Julie Fry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book three stars because I do enjoy this author's writing, but I found a number of the chapters tedious. I think part of the problem is that some of these articles are so old that the information seems very dated and sometimes irrelevant. Also, I don't think my range of interests is nearly as broad as it would need to be to enjoy some of these topics. I did find some of the background on the former USSR and Myanmar enlightening.

[Seán · Rating 5 out of 5]

His collection of essays is generally not as cohesive and is less polished than his other nonfiction books but there is benefit to this. You get to read and experience Solomon in a more journal type form. This writing to me seem more intimate and raw. I hope he publishes his writing on the other countries he has visited.