The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy - Hardcover

Gilman, Priscilla

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061690279 ISBN 13: 9780061690273

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011

Synopsis

“The Anti-Romantic Child is remarkable. This haunting and lyrical memoir will be an invaluable and heartening guide to all who find themselves in similar situations and indeed anyone confronting an unforeseen challenge.”—Marie Brenner, writer for Vanity Fair and author of Apples and Oranges
 
With an emotionally resonant combination of memoir and literature, Wordsworth scholar Priscilla Gilman recounts the challenges of raising a son with hyperlexia, a developmental disorder neurologically counterpoint to dyslexia. Gilman explores the complexities of our hopes and expectations for our children and ourselves. With luminous prose and a searing, personal story evocative of A Year of Magical Thinking and A Year of Reading Proust, Gilman’s The Anti-Romantic Child is an unforgettable exploration of what happens when we lean to embrace the unexpected.  

About this title

Review:

"A riveting and original book about love."--Ann Beattie

"Every parent should read this luminous book to absorb or absorb again the truth that every child is a surprise--a revelation--to be uniquely learned and understood as well as loved."--Mary Catherine Bateson, author of Composing A Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom

"THE ANTI-ROMANTIC CHILD is remarkable. This haunting and lyrical memoir will be an invaluable and heartening guide to all who find themselves in similar situations and indeed anyone confronting an unforeseen challenge."--Marie Brenner, writer at large for Vanity Fair and author of Apples and Oranges

"THE ANTI-ROMANTIC CHILD is such a profoundly moving book. It is so riveting, I couldn't stop. It is rich, informative and gorgeously written. If you don't love it as much as I did, you must have left your heart in the taxi cab."--Andre Gregory, theater director, writer, and star of My Dinner with Andre

"THE ANTI-ROMANTIC CHILD is beautiful, poetic, and heartfelt. It's more than a mother-child story; it's a journey of self-discovery. It's a book every parent should read."--Kathryn Erskine, bestselling author of Mockingbird and winner of the 2010 National Book AwardKathryn Erskine, bestselling author of Mockingbird and winner of the 2010 National Book AwardKathryn Erskine, bestselling author of Mockingbird and winner of

"With unforgettable honesty, Priscilla Gilman recounts how the reality of a challenging child transformed her dream of the perfect family. I couldn't put this book down."--Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project

"[A] lovely, thoughtful memoir."--Boston Globe

""The Anti-Romantic Child" is remarkable. This haunting and lyrical memoir will be an invaluable and heartening guide to all who find themselves in similar situations and indeed anyone confronting an unforeseen challenge."--Marie Brenner, writer at large for Vanity Fair and author of Apples and Oranges

""The Anti-Romantic Child" is beautiful, poetic, and heartfelt. It's more than a mother-child story; it's a journey of self-discovery. It's a book every parent should read."--Kathryn Erskine, bestselling author of "Mockingbird" and winner of the 2010 National Book Award

"Unforgettable. . . . I couldn't put this book down."--Gretchen Rubin, bestselling author of The Happiness Project

From the Back Cover:

Priscilla Gilman had the greatest expectations for the birth of her first child. Growing up in New York among writers and artists, Gilman experienced childhood as a whirlwind of imagination and creative play. Later, as a student and scholar of Wordsworth, she embraced the poet's romantic view of children—and eagerly anticipated her son's birth, certain that he, too, would come "trailing clouds of glory." But her romantic vision would not be fulfilled in the ways she dreamed. Though Benjamin was an extraordinary child, the signs of his remarkable precocity were also manifestations of a developmental disorder that would require intensive therapies and special schooling, and would dramatically alter the course Priscilla had imagined for her family.

In The Anti-Romantic Child, a memoir full of lyricism and light, Gilman explores the complexity of our hopes for our children, our families, and ourselves, and the ways in which experience can lead us to reimagine those hopes and expectations. Using Wordsworth's poetry as a touchstone, she speaks intimately of her poignant journey through crisis and disenchantment to a place of peace and resilience. Gilman illuminates the flourishing of life that occurs when we embrace the unexpected, and shows how events and situations often perceived as setbacks can actually enrich us. The Anti-Romantic Child is a courageous and inspiring synthesis of memoir and literature, one that resonates long after you finish the last page.

The Anti-Romantic Child, Gilman's first book, was excerpted in Newsweek magazine and featured on the cover of its international edition in April 2011. It was an NPR Morning Edition Must-Read, Slate's Book of the Week, selected as one the Best Books of 2011 by the Leonard Lopate Show, and chosen as a Best Book of 2011 by The Chicago Tribune. The Anti-Romantic Child was one of five nominees for a Books for a Better Life Award for Best First Book.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0061690279
• ISBN 13: 9780061690273
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 291