Why Do I Love These People? : Honest and Amazing Stories of Real Families
By Po BronsonWe all have an imaginary definition of a great family. We imagine what it would be like to belong to such a family. No fights over the holidays. No getting on one anotherÂ?s nerves. Respect for individual identity. Mutual support, without being intrusive. So many people believe they are disqualified from having a better family experience, primarily because they compare their own family with the mythic ideal, and their reality falls short. Is that a fair standard to judge against?Â?
In the pages of Why Do I Love These People?, Po Bronson takes us on an extraordinary journey.
It begins on a river in Texas, where a mother gets trapped underwater and has to bargain for her own life and that of her kids.
Then, a father and his daughter return to their tiny rice-growing village in China, hoping to rekindle their love for each other inside the walls of his childhood home.
Next, a son puts forth a riddle, asking us to understand what his first experience of God has to do with his Mexican American mother.
Every stepÂ?and every familyÂ?on this journey is real.
Calling upon his gift for powerful nonfiction narrative and philosophical insight, Bronson explores the incredibly complicated feelings that we have for our families. Each chapter introduces us to two peopleÂ?a father and his son, a daughter and her mother, a wife and her husbandÂ?and we come to know them as intimately as characters in a novel, following the story of their relationship as they struggle resiliently through the kinds of hardships all families endure.
Some of the people manage to save their relationship, while others find a better life only after letting the relationship go. From their efforts, the wisdom in this book emerges. We are left feeling emotionally raw but groundedÂ?and better prepared to love, through both hard times and good time.
In these twenty mesmerizing stories, we discover what is essential and elemental to all families and, in doing so, slowly abolish the fantasies and fictions we have about those we fight to stay connected to.
In Why Do I Love These People?, Bronson shows us that we are united by our yearnings and aspirations: Family is not our dividing line, but our common ground.
show more
Book details
- Hardcover
- 381 pages
- English
- 1400062373
- 9781400062379
About Po Bronson
po bronson has built a career both as a successful novelist and as a prominent writer of narrative nonfiction. he has published five books, and he has writ Read More about Po Bronson
More Books By Po Bronson
People who bought this also bought
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Your Life from Thirty to Fifty
Used Book
The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents) (The Handy Answer Book Series)
Used Book
25 days to christmas: a journey to the true joy and meaning of christmas
Used Book
The Brendan Voyage: A Leather Boat Tracks the Discovery of America by the Irish Sailor Saints
Used Book
Dependence and Exploitation in Work and Marriage: Conference Proceedings
Used Book
Terry Savage's New Money Strategies for the '90s : Simple Steps to Creating Wealth and Building Financial Security
Used Book
Cartoon Marriage: Adventures in Love and Matrimony by The New Yorker's Cartooning Couple
Used Book
An Artist in Treason : The Extraordinary Double Life of General James Wilkinson
Used Book
Taste of Life Cookbook : 200 Low Cholesterol Easy to Make Healthy Life Style Recipes
Used Book
Integral Spirituality: Resources for Community, Justice, Peace and the Earth
Used Book