Far and Away

March 14, 2016
Revolution, genocide, and violent exhibitions of Chinese art are among the perils navigated in these adventurous essays. Journalist and psychologist Solomon (Far from the Tree) gamely plunges into global tragedies, hot spots, and cultural ferment: persecuted art scenes in Afghanistan and China; folkways of psychological depression in places as far-flung as Greenland, where the suicide rate is 10%, and post–Khmer Rouge Cambodia; the bureaucratic and political mazes of Libya under the Qaddafi dictatorship and Myanmar as military rule crumbles. Sprinkled in are calmer but wonderfully lyrical travel pieces portraying the primordial freedoms of Mongolian steppe nomads and the “hostile, exquisite, primitive vastness” of Antarctic ice fields. Solomon’s writing captures the sweep of history and social upheaval through vivid, fine-grained reportage that’s raptly attuned to individual experience. There are some real gems here, including a romantic, absurdist account of Moscow’s avant-garde artists facing down tanks and a piece aptly titled, “Naked, Covered in Ram’s Blood, Drinking a Coke, and Feeling Pretty Good.” But all the essays make for entertaining, thoughtful reads.

November 1, 2015

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity and the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, PEN president Solomon is always revealing about the dislocations of human consciousness. His thinking shifts to the larger political and cultural terrain in this collection of essays written over 25 years. Here he is in 1991 Moscow, for instance, joining artists battling the ultimately failed coup that had tried to steer the Soviet Union back to the past.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2016
As a Columbia University professor, president of PEN American Center, contributor to several national publications, and National Book Awardwinning author, Solomon (Far from the Tree, 2012) wears many hats, but this time around he's sporting a well-worn travel-writer's helmet. This collection of his previously published essays is greater than the sum of its parts. It sparkles with insights great and small on the countries and people that he's had the privilege to meet over the last quarter century. From Brazil to Cambodia to the outer reaches of Mongolia and more, Solomon exceeds the norm of writing about faraway places. There are no hotel recommendations here, no must-see shimmering fountains or architecturally significant monuments. Instead, he describes the architectural significance of the ger (tent) that is home to a nomadic Mongolian herder and the shimmering eyes of youngsters as they ask pithy questions about what life is like in the U.S. In every case, in every place, Solomon takes the time to talk to the people who inhabit the distant reaches of our planet. Although his perceptions are keen, what he delivers best and with enchanting clarity are their truths, fears, regrets, and hopes. Readers will most certainly be inspired to book a flight, finishing this book en route to some faraway place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)