Super Short Summary

In The Faraway Nearby, Rebecca Solnit crafts a dreamy tapestry of storytelling that spans creative nonfiction, prose poetry, and travel writing, rooted in the catalyst of her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis. Solnit explores the role of empathy and imagination in human experiences, touching on anecdotes from her own life, literary analyses, and global cultural references, while linking these themes to her complex relationship with her mother, structured around the evocative metaphor of apricots. Sensitive topics such as serious illness, dementia, and historical acts of cannibalism are discussed.