Customer Reviews

Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery: Featuring, the Allegory of the Little Girl on the Rock

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

I was under the impression that this was a book discussing abandonment recovery; however, this is the story of a little girl abandoned in the woods by her father. This story goes through the emotions and feelings this girl experiences in her journey. Although, I did enjoy this story and was able to grasp the concepts the story was illustrating, I was looking for a book more like Susan Anderson's other book on abandonment recovery.

Black Swan is designed for readers needing help with abandonment issues from childhood, as well as those currently dealing with love-loss. Susan Anderson uses an allegorical treatment approach to convent her twelve lessons of abandonment recovery developed over twenty years of research, clinical practice, and workshop experience. Black Swan is enhanced for the reader with a preface, postscript and two appendices. Each of the "twelve lessons" is clearly marked within the chapters, as well as outlined in the appendices making them readily accessible for further reflection. Black Swan is highly recommended for the non-specialist general reader struggle to cope with the emotional traumas of abandonment and loss.

Read this when you have time to ponder the depth and scope of its meaning. I've read this story several times now and each time I discover a new treasure of meaning. Abandoment issues are all about the condition of one's heart and this beautiful allegory spins a tale to recovery. Very powerful.

This book clearly defines the lessons/stages that are critical in the abandonment recovery process. I read this book to identify where I was in the process and it validated that I was on the right track. Worth the read if you are suffering from any sort of lingering or fresh abandonment pain.

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.

Yes, awesome is how I feel about this book. The subject matter is very sensitive for me and I whole heartedly would like to encourage anyone who has been dealing with or trying to understand the depth of abandonment issues to read this book. Many thanks to Susan Anderson for writing this!

This was helpful in understanding some of the abandonment feelings my friend is going through. It helped to understand some of the language she uses. It is a very helpful book and a very easy read.

I thought that this book was very unique in the sense of a talking swan guiding a little girl to recover from feelings of abandonment. At first I thought this book was very sad and cruel from the beginning and then I started to think that the visits with the swan were becoming repetitive. Now I see that Amanda started to make the changes in her life, stood up to her greatest challenge, and the story did continue on her personal life. I would recommend this book to people who have a sense of isolation and feel abandoned by a parent in their life.

This book is wonderful. I read it from cover to cover and it changed me forever. It's simple and straightforward and gets right down to the core of how to deal with abandonment ... I found it to be an incredibly insightful book, written from the heart.

I have never written a review before, and I felt so strongly about this book, I had to get in here and write!

Pat