A Slender Thread
Rediscovering Hope at the Heart of Crisis
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
An astonishing book by the prize-winning, bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses that reveals her parallel lives as an observer of the wildlife in her garden and as a telephone crisis counselor.
"(Ackerman) brings a luminous and illuminating combination of sensuality, science, and speculation to whatever she considers." —San Francisco Examiner
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Both a sensuous road map through depression, despair and loss of self, and a homage to the wonder, multiplicity and rejuvenating power of nature, this new book from the author of A Natural History of the Senses is, quite simply, wonderful. Ackerman has worked for years as a counselor at a suicide prevention and crisis center in her hometown in upstate New York. She describes her work as that of a "sorrow ranger." The slender thread of the title refers to the phone wires that reach invisibly between Ackerman and the frightened, hopeless, often desperate person at the other end and to the strength that keeps us going through the hard times. Her writing can charm ("summer is like a new philosophy in the air, and everyone has heard about it"), but it doesn't scant her own despair, making this her most personal book to date. So depressed she forces herself to cross-country ski on her local golf course, Ackerman is pulled back on track by the Canadian geese honking overhead. Thoughts and subjects move and trail into each other here, sometimes through anecdote, sometimes through historical passages, sometimes through densely layered or near stream-of-consciousness prose. From "cutters" (self-mutilators) to the act of bathing, from captive lions to squirrels in her backyard, from a biking trip through the Finger Lakes to a dying Luna moth beside the road, Ackerman leads the reader on a respectful, deeply emotional, life-affirming journey. 35,000 first printing; major ad/promo; author tour.
Customer Reviews
An intimate blend of nature and nurture
Anyone who has experience with mental illness (and who doesn't?) will appreciate Diane Ackerman's insightful responses to the calls she received while volunteering with a Crisis Hotline.
I enjoyed the mixture of her observations of nature, bike rides with a friend, and the intense attempts to rejuvenate, and at times, save the lives of strangers via telephone.
At times, Ackerman has a tendency to jump into a subject or a description in list form, and her lists tend to be a little too long. I found myself losing patience and skipping to the next paragraph a few times. As a whole, though, her writing and subject matter was compassionate, interesting, and easily relatable to my own experiences.