Prologue
Part I: Into the Blind Spot
Part II: Learning to See
Part III: The Point of Vanishing
Howard Axelrod's essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Salon, Virginia Quarterly Review, and the Boston Globe, among other publications. He has taught at Harvard, the University of Arizona, and currently teaches writing at Loyola University in Chicago. His debut book, The Point of Vanishing- A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude, evocatively chronicles his experience of retreating into nature following a basketball accident that left him permanently blinded in one eye. The memoir was named one of the best books of 2015 by Slate, the Chicago Tribune, and Entropy Magazine, and one of the best memoirs of 2015 by Library Journal. In a starred review, Kirkus called the book a "vibrant, honest, and poetic account" of Axelrod's search for quiet and for a different, more internalized and introspective way of seeing.
“Axelrod lyrically captures the essence of nature as he ponders his
own self-worth and purpose in life. . . . In his first book, the
author pushes beyond the boundaries and safety nets of the modern
world and opens a doorway to feelings and experiences many long for
but never encounter. His writing is a balm for world-weary souls. A
vibrant, honest, and poetic account of how two years of solitude
surrounded by nature changed a man forever.”
—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
“This elegant, questioning memoir details that moment and events
prior to it, but mostly it achingly limns Axelrod’s two years
living alone in a ramshackle cabin in the Vermont woods. His
writing—whether describing an aspect of the wilderness around him
or noting the “first lesson of solitude: everything really is your
fault”—is lush and savory, exact in its intent to document just how
Axelrod regained the ability to feel “that quiet of already
belonging.” That he allows the reader to participate in this
journey, from whatever distance, is more than a pleasure—it’s an
honor. . . . Axelrod so adroitly and wisely re-creates the
youngster he was that readers forget the passing of time, hearing
only the voice of sorrow, longing, and determination. This memoir
is a keeper, touching and eloquent, full of hard lessons learned.
Readers will hope for more from first-time-author Axelrod.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
“A deeply felt and moving journey into no longer taking life, or
the world around us, for granted.”
—Library Journal
“Mr. Axelrod is clearly a gifted writer...The best thing about Mr.
Axelrod’s frequently absorbing book is how idiosyncratic it feels;
he is a unique presence on the page.”
—New York Times Daily Review
“What makes his book completely mesmerizing—besides his lovely
prose, that is—is how exquisitely it balances between the poles of
revelation and disintegration. Yet, refreshingly, he never
repudiates the extremity of what he’s done. He’s come in from the
woods with a strange tale to tell, but what makes you want to stop
whatever you’re doing and listen to him is the frosty breath of the
wild that still clings to his coat.”
—Slate Book Review
“The Point of Vanishing: A Memoir of Two Years in Solitude is an
inherently absorbing and compelling read from beginning to end.
Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, The Point of
Vanishing is very highly recommended for both community and
academic library Contemporary American Biography collections.”
—Midwest Book Review
“Axelrod is a master of metaphor, presenting familiar sights and
sounds in unforgettable new ways. His writing is propulsive,
unabashedly visionary, and strikingly fresh. This book will have
you turning down pages, returning to sentences just to savor them,
and reading passages aloud to anyone who will listen...The Point of
Vanishing is a profoundly immersive narrative. One is struck again
and again by the quality of the writing: by the vividness of its
characters, by the accomplished lyricism of its language, by the
brilliant acuity of its observations, and by the wisdom and humor
that permeate its pages. What lingers most of all are Axelrod’s
sharply wrought landscape descriptions. Setting is definitely an
active character in this story...This memoir feels like a gift in a
way that few books do...If you read it with an open heart, it has
the power to change your life.”
—The Rumpus
“Axelrod weaves a lyrical, questioning narrative about his search
for identity after a basketball game left him blind in one
eye...Lush descriptions of sensory experiences as Axelrod discovers
new ways of seeing the world, and himself, illuminate a journey of
loss leading to insight with Axelrod finding the core of himself
amid the pieces of who he had once been.”
—Shambhala Sun
“Occasionally a book comes along that has the power to transport
readers to a place that many of us, I believe, wonder about, if
only in the darkest moments of the night. Howard Axelrod’s memoir,
The Point of Vanishing, was such a book for me...It is a brave
book. It is also finely crafted, which is what enables it to carry
the reader step by step into a dark but illuminating interior
space...Axelrod skillfully plays the narrative of his time in the
woods against a parallel backstory. The two threads ultimately
merge, and he comes very close to passing right through some
imagined bottom into another dark realm, one from which there very
likely is no escape...Though The Point of Vanishing isn’t a map, it
charts some of the territory that lies between the hard surfaces of
the world and the murky depths in the shadows within all of us. The
story is a beacon for those who have ever sensed such a realm.”
—Portland Press Herald
“Beautiful in its intensity, searing in its pain. It’s a
breathtaking read.”
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Deeply alive and exciting and nuanced . . . all about what it
means to see, and how we might ask ourselves to see differently—to
live differently in our own bodies, and in the world . . . Powerful
and ineffable, it feels like a blessing.”
—Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams
“Axelrod uses his seclusion in the natural solitary world of the
North in winter to explore how we can have vision without really
seeing. Well written with an honesty one can respect, The Point of
Vanishing is more than an exploration of the human soul; it is a
discovery of how our bodies can compensate and complement for our
senses when we experience the partial loss of one.”
—Annie Philbrick, Bank Square Books
“This is a very real book, in bone-on-bone contact with the actual
world. It made me think about my own life in new ways, and I think
it will do the same for you.”
—Bill McKibben, author Deep Economy
“Blindness and insight are the twin subjects of Howard Axelrod’s
intricate and beautiful memoir of his two years of solitude. . . .
The unimportant falls away, in this book, and what comes closer is
a luminous sense of the essential, the beautiful, the sacred, and
the unspeakable.”
—Charles Baxter, author of The Feast of Love
“A sensitive and sensual book about seeing and feeling deeply;
witty, wise, and beautifully written from beginning to end.”
—Geraldine Brooks, author of March
“Out of sudden and profound loss, Axelrod has drawn a haunting,
tender memoir that grips like an emotional thriller. The Point of
Vanishing is raw, exquisitely written, and full of poetic insights.
This is a big book about big truths that matter to us all. It
delivers a message of hope and strength, and reveals what is most
human in our most unspoken yearning for something real, something
true. In its subtle, deeply moving way, it will have you peering
beneath the various faces you present to the world and encourage
you to ask the most fundamental of questions: who am I alone?”
—Bella Pollen, author of The Summer of the Bear
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