Black Swan. The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery

Customer Reviews

Helpful

2007-09-18
I thought, when I first started reading this book, that it was a bit too simple a read for adults. Still, the opening situation with the girl was so familiar and even a little bit uncomfortable and I thought there must be something in here for me. There was! I think this book and it's lessons would be a comfort to most people who have been wounded in their childhoods.

Bypass this book and keep looking

2007-06-28
I have read a library full of self-help books. This is the worst. Immediately after reading The Black Swan, I took it and threw it in the nearest trash can. The story of a little girl getting therapy from a swan may be cute but did not transpire into any lasting change. It was like listening to a friend's horrendous story of neglect, abuse and abandonment and then suggesting she "find her center." Most of what the swan offers as help, is New Age psychobabble. If you are not into New Age philosophy you will hate this book.

A good therapudic book to have on hand.

2007-06-09
A wonderful parable for all kinds of loss. A good book to have on hand. Perhaps a few copies to share as you are unlikely to get it back, which is a good thing.

Black Swan

2007-03-23
A new allegorical perspective on an age old, little identified problem. Beautifully done. A must have part of a therapist's library.

Thank you

Recommended for Everyone

2006-08-28
Susan Anderson beautifully utilizes the power of the fable in conveying complex concepts about life, love, and loss in this easy to read story about the Black Swan. Because this book is a story and reads like one it avoids the blandness and instructional nature of other selfhelp books. By the same token the story is not abstract or meandering. The principals and recovery methods presented in the book are clearly and concisely described so that they may be easily put into practice. Furthermore, the storyline helps to make sequence of the twelve steps or lessons easy to remember. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Black Swan

2008-07-10
Excellent book. I highly recommend the book. The book is written through a child's experience. It's a great way to illustrate the hurt, pain, one feels when abandoned. Reading the book brought back the experiences I felt when I was a child and my father abandoned us.

The child in the book was able to learn from her painful experience, deal with the hurt and grow from it.

I highly recommend the book. I think the book would also be a great tool for children old enough to understand it's contents.

Profound and Not new age psychobabble.

2008-06-21
This is a book on abandonment that is put in a childs story. The reason this works is because the material comes through without the typical roadblocks we put up when reading academic stuff. Like music would, it gets inside you via your heart. I love this book and have purchased it 4 times and need to buy another...I keep giving them away. It is a lovely book. I can't tell you how wonderful this is.

Very Helpful

2008-06-16
Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery

I bought this book for a friend who is receiving counselling due to abandonment issues from childhood. I wasn't sure whether it would help or not. However, after the first few pages, my friend broke down in floods of tears, so it certainly went straight to the heart of her problem.

She has told me that she finds the book very helpful, and intends following each step in the book to, hopefully, some kind of recovery. She said that she thought one would have to have suffered abandonment to fully relate to this book. She said that it walked her through each step and emotion that she had felt at the time of abandonment, and that the child in the book was just as she was at that time.

She would give it full marks.

A Guy's Review - Scientifically proven system

2007-12-08
I bought this for a woman I care deeply about. I knew she had some abandonment issues and thought it may help and want her to be happy and healthy even if she's not with me. I read through it briefly. I'm sure it helped me too and I don't have this type of issues. It's the only book I've read besides parts of The Message (bible by Eugene Peterson) were I felt strange afterwards. A weird kind of good headache. It's written about a girl named Amanda that meets with a black swan (therapist) that talks with her to teach her the 12 steps (lessons) that she is a stong person and can survive and be happy in the world all on her own. It helps you develop inner strengths (reaffirms power and control) that people, mainly women and children "belief" they don't have; was stolen. It is a short, easy read. It has a self guided mediation of the 12 steps in the back. I would suggest everyone read this book. It could radically change you life for the better.

Very depressing and Anderson does better elsewhere

2007-11-27
If you want a great guidebook on abandonment recovery, read Anderson's "Journey from Abandonment" (and see my review of it). I found this fable extremely depressing, and some of the hideous self-loathing the little girl goes through may have some psychological validity, but finding her sleeping on piles of rags while enjoying her own excrement crossed a line, of what I am not sure. My experience of being an abandoned child (by a mother with severe emotional problems and a father who was in denial and/or at work most of the time) made me into a superachiever and driven by fears of not being good enough in the eyes of others. I would have never let myself disintegrate the way the little girl did - although it is, yes, an allegory for one's inner self. I didn't identify with that part at all. The fear is the main thing that has sabotaged a good bit of my journey in relationships. Anderson is fabulous in her other work that explains the five stages of abandonment feelings, and also offers wonderful daily exercises that have transformed my life in just a few weeks. Maybe this book just isn't everyone's cup of tea - but I want those who are turned off of it or maybe would not give Anderson's work a chance because of it or some of these reviews - please read her other work. She is amazing.