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Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity

Book by Andrew Solomon · 4 quotes · Suffering, Ambition, Gender

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Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity Quotes

“It is not suffering that is precious, but the concentric pearlescence with which we contain it. The raw grit of anguish will never be in short supply. There is enough of it in the happiest life to serve these instructive purposes, and there always will be. We are more sympathetic to Holocaust survivors than to malcontent children of privilege, but we all have our darkness, and the trick is making something exalted of it.”

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Book:Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
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“John [the father] kept saying, "You have a penis. That means you’re a boy." One day, Shannon noticed that her son had been in the bathroom an awfully long time and pushed the door open. "He had a pair of my best, sharpest sewing scissors poised, ready to cut. Penis in the scissors. I said, 'What are you doing?' He said, 'This doesn’t belong here. So I’m going to cut it off.' I said, 'You can’t do that.' He said, 'Why not?' I said, 'Because if you ever want to have girl parts, they need that to make them.' I pulled that one right out of my ass. He handed me the scissors and said, 'Okay.”

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Book:Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity
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