false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167621618m/25196.jpg 25196 5 A Healing Family, Kenzaburo Oe's first book since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, is an intimate portrait of the people closest to him. Above all, it is about his son Hikari. <P>Hikari was born in 1963 with a growth on his brain so large it made him look as if he had two heads. His parents were told he might never be more than a "human vegetable" requiring constant care; but they took the decision to raise him. Today, despite autism, poor vision, and a tendency to seizures, their son is an established composer with two successful CDs to his credit. <P>Oe has often written about the sorrows and satisfactions of being the parent of a handicapped child, most memorably in A Personal Matter; but nowhere has his writing been more personal, more buoyant, more revealing than in this non-fiction work. Without diminishing the suffering that Hikari and his family have been through, he celebrates the victories that can be won, especially his son's gift for music--his own "language." <P>Friends make an appearance along the way--doctors, musicians, other writers--as do the themes that have preoccupied Oe all his life: the rights of the underprivileged; the moral authority of the survivors of the atomic bombing; the mystery of language. But his thoughts keep circling back to his family--to the healing power of the family, and the unwitting courage we can all find in ourselves. <P>The book is illustrated with sketches of family life painted by his wife. 780882 1995 A Healing Family total:10|5:2|4:3|3:2|2:3|1:0| 10 34 19 1 2 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 12 12:11:54 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 12 12:11:54 -0800 2007 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Oct 25 13:37:25 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 13:37:25 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Sat Oct 17 14:14:40 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 14:14:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 19:11:24 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 19:11:24 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Aug 20 06:23:51 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 06:23:51 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 12 21:24:36 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 05:33:29 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 21:24:36 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Jun 28 11:58:52 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 11:58:57 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Apr 26 12:26:34 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 12:26:34 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Fri Feb 13 05:40:33 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 05:40:33 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Sep 26 07:56:25 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 26 07:56:25 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Sep 23 19:38:15 -0700 2008 Tue Oct 28 00:45:01 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Aug 20 06:35:21 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 06:35:21 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri May 23 15:13:17 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 15:13:17 -0700 2008 2 0 false false Wed Apr 30 09:07:11 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 09:07:17 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Feb 27 21:28:34 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 27 21:28:34 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Thu Jan 31 23:03:57 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 23:03:57 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sun Sep 16 14:27:58 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 14:27:58 -0700 2007 0 0 false false Tue Jun 26 22:02:10 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 26 22:02:12 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Tue May 08 09:59:38 -0700 2007 Tue May 08 09:59:38 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=25196