A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures

(Author), Jeff Himmelman (Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Kate Tuttle Memoirs of a childhood in the shadow of famous parents are legion, but most center on some conflict. Quinn Bradlee, son of former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and writer Sally Quinn, instead tells a story in which his parents are tough, loving and supportive. They needed to be. From open-heart surgery in infancy to a litany of health and developmental problems, Bradlee's childhood combined privilege with serious challenges. When he was 14, he and his parents finally got a diagnosis explaining everything from the hole in his heart to his difficulties with speech, memory and social interactions: cardio-velo-facial syndrome, a genetic condition affecting one in 2,000. Bradlee's book brings a bracing honesty to the tough stuff he has faced, and a sweet enthusiasm for the things that make him happy, from surfing to his childhood dog. He doesn't sugarcoat how difficult difference can be, but there's no pity here, and no complaint.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Review

Kate and Jim Lehrer
“A Different Life is a marvel--a stunning rocket of honesty about growing up learning disabled. As Quinn explains his frustrations, dreams, set-back and triumphs, he also explores with humor and sensitivity the difficulties in even a loving family's dynamic of dealing with their son. The portrait that unfolds is not so unlike that of many a family -- his father loving but firm and wanting to fit him for the world and a mother who does everything in her power to protect him from the emotional and physical suffering he often endures. Yet through the heartbreak shines Quinn's hopefulness and kindness and spills onto us all. This book is for everyone.”

Barbara Kantrowitz, The Daily Beast, 3/31
“Bradlee is, at times, funny, mordant, surprisingly perceptive and disturbingly naïve…. it’s clear that even enormous privilege did not protect him from the profound loneliness of being different.”
 

Liz Smith, www.Wowowow.com, 3/31
“You’ll be hearing the name Quinn Bradlee a lot now that this son of Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee of Washington media fame has finished A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures.”

Kate Tuttle, Washington Post
“Bradlee's book brings a bracing honesty to the tough stuff he's faced, and a sweet enthusiasm toward the things that make him happy, from surfing to his childhood dog. He doesn't sugarcoat how difficult difference can be, but there's no pity here, and no complaint.”

ADDitutde Magazine
“A rare peek into the beliefs, feelings, and experiences of this young man with differing abilities, who just wants what the rest of us want out of life--work that he enjoys and is good at, and reciprocal relationships with a partner, good friends, and a wider social network.”

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

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Product Details Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (March 30, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 1586481894 ISBN-13: 978-1586481896 Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #374,719 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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	95% buy the item featured on this page: A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures 4.5 out of 5 stars (17) $15.66
	2% buy Perfectly Imperfect: A Life in Progress 4.3 out of 5 stars (12) $16.50
	2% buy Educating Children with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome (Genetics and Communication Disorders Series) 4.1 out of 5 stars (7) $53.95
	1% buy In an Instant: A Family's Journey of Love and Healing 4.7 out of 5 stars (117)

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Customer Reviews

17 Reviews 5 star:  (11) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (3) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.5 out of 5 stars (17 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 12 of 15 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt and informative--and oh how the title fits!, April 21, 2009 By  David H. Rothman, author of The Solomon Scand... (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews What if your father is Ben Bradlee, your mother's Sally Quinn, and you're stuck with a learning disorder that disrupts even prosaic activities? Never mind growing up to help expose another Watergate or skewer pretentious socialites. Suppose you have trouble understanding most books or face memory problems. Just what to do, especially in a brutal, hierarchical place like Washington, D.C.? In politics and media, the generals and their families are expected to put on a good show for the troops. How to respond? Should your family hide you from the public or gloss over your shortcomings? Luckily the parents of Quinn Bradlee, a plucky 26-year-old born with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, let him and a skillful collaborator tell the whole story or at far more than we might have anticipated. Ben Bradlee and wife had apparently envisioned their son writing a buttoned-down book without earthy language--perhaps a respectful look at the boy's ancestors, since Quinn is a genealogy buff. But Quinn and his not-so-hidden ghost wisely avoided this PRish tack. The two paid due tribute to Bradlee and Quinn forebears, but kept in the S word. In fact, they even wrote a scene set on a Caribbean island, Saint Martin, where Quinn loses his virginity to a hooker with skin "as black as the night sky and black curly hair that came down to her shoulder." Quinn's hooker story would be mere titillation by itself; but A Different Life is full of, say, his reflections on women and life in general--naïve in places, but just the same, genuinely his. He does not just share his triumphs at a boarding school for people with disabilities; he also tells of the vicious hazing there. Honesty is the salient trait of this work. What Quinn's story misses in eloquence at times, he more than makes up in credibility of voice. Beyond that, Quinn and collaborator skillfully weave into the book insights on VCFS: how to spot it, how to cope with it, how to accept it. At length they quote Dr. Robert Shprintzen, who, besides having helped Quinn, wrote of the first paper to describe the heart-related syndrome, in 1978. Some 150,000 people here in the U.S. suffer from VCFS, which comes with a whole range of mental and physical complications. Quinn is into film, not traditional journalism; but with the help of his friend, tutor, and ghost, Jeff Himmelman, he appears to have made a solid contribution in the area of health coverage, efforts that go on via a stylish, useful Web site promoted in the book. FriendsOfQuinn.com also educates visitors about other learning disabilities. A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures, the full title of the book itself, is a clever play on the one for Ben Bradlee's autobiography called A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. Without meaning to slight the father, may I suggest that to many readers, the son's book may be more memorable? The older Bradlee, born into an aristocratic Boston family, suffered from polio and had his own struggles. But they paled beside those which the young Quinn has faced, does face, and will face. Quinn's biggest challenge, of course, will be his destiny after his parents die. His father is 87; his mother, 68. The good news for the parents is that the origins of Quinn's disease, while genetic, apparently haven't anything to do their ages at the time of conception. No need for guilt in that respect or probably most others. Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, as stated in the book, never hesitated to spend money on Quinn's tutors and other special advantages; and even more importantly, they gave him time rather than just locking him in an institution as an "expert" had suggested. Still, is there anything more that the parents can do? Perhaps I've overlooked something; but I can't recall any mention in A Different Life of the role that the right technology might play in truly nudging Quinn into the world of books. Quinn can read out passages from books and is even a fan of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, drawn in by the conversational style, but he generally has trouble processing printed information. Imagine the benefits of text to speech. Has Quinn ever experimented with that capability on a Kindle or other machine? I'm thinking of a Floridian who--with the help of software that read words aloud to him as they showed up on his laptop computer screen--turned himself from a Wal-Mart clerk into a teacher. I doubt that Quinn could effect a transformation of that magnitude; but tech is worth a try if he and others like him are to learn to enjoy more books. Searching FriendsOfQuinn.com, I didn't find one reference to "e-books" or "ebooks" with sound capabilities in use. If, in fact, nothing is there, perhaps Quinn and his Web community could explore these digital options. Within the employment area, here's a possibility for Quinn himself although it could apply to others in his situation. Imagine Quinn as a Web usability tester working directly for the Washington Post itself, not just the company that created FriendsOfQuinn.com. If he can cope with a certain kind of interface, there is a good chance that the rest of the world can. Coal mines and canaries and all so on. That's just one tiny example of how people like Quinn can contribute to society and businesses. Meanwhile bravo to Quinn for a heartfelt and informative book, and to his parents for raising him to make such achievements possible. David Rothman Author of The Solomon Scandals (A Washington newspaper novel) Editor-publisher, TeleRead.org (Devoted to e-books and related topics) Note: Sorry about the length of this review, but I felt that Quinn Bradlee's book was worth it. 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The books power derives from the author's authenticity, April 15, 2009 By  Lynn Hanley (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews I am in awe of this young man because he is determined to contribute, to have his life count. Anyone with a learning disability and any parent of a child with a learning disability or VCFS, and anyone who has been insensitive about learning disabilities, should read this book. Its about living well no matter what. Its also shows clearly what its like to have one's brain mix things up. What held me to every page is that the author's reporting of his emotional experience is honest. We meet the real Quinn and the real-time experience of being differently-abled. Its a marvelous book. 5 of 6 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A walk in his shoes., April 20, 2009 By  Joan A. Cooke "jcooke99" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This book not only educates you on his syndrome, but is a real walk in his shoes. We THINK we can understand how it feels to someone special. Quinn Bradlee lets us become him. I am thrilled to have that experience. I better understand how to interact with all types of people. Should be required reading for all high school kids. Some language and personal experiences by Quinn make it questionable for kids under high school age. Parents,however, should read parts of this book to those younger kids. This is a book about understanding and tolerance.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Life A different perspective on life when seen through the eyes of someone with learning disabilities. Very good! Published 2 months ago by CM Vanlieshout 4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read This was a fascinating book that gave me insight into the thinking process of the learning disabled. Published 5 months ago by Mamaw 3.0 out of 5 stars Candor Memoirs from authors in their twenties attract readers less from the disclosure of wisdom acquired over decades than from telling a story about something extraordinary and worth... Read more Published 7 months ago by Stephen T. Hopkins 3.0 out of 5 stars A life of differences Quinn Bradlee is the son of former "Washington Post" editor Ben Bradlee and his wife, reporter Sally Quinn. Read more Published 7 months ago by lmj 5.0 out of 5 stars Quinn is One Amazing Human Being [[ASIN:1586481894 A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures] What a truly amazing man Quinn Bradlee is!! Read more Published 7 months ago by K. A. Kelly 5.0 out of 5 stars not what you think I saw Sally Quinn and her son on C-span discusing teh book and Quinn's learning problems. He speaks so well I would never know he had LD. Read more Published 7 months ago by Kathleen Schultz 5.0 out of 5 stars General-interest libraries will find his an inspirational, compelling saga Born with a hole in his heart and suffering from severe illnesses from birth on, author Quinn Bradlee was constantly ill for 14 years until he was finally correctly diagnosed with... Read more Published 7 months ago by Midwest Book Review 5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you. Thank you for the speedy delivery, I've already read this great book and donated it to my local library. Published 8 months ago by Ronald M. Grimes 4.0 out of 5 stars A Different Life by Quinn Bradlee Quinn Bradlee was only three months old when he was operated on for a hole in his heart, and from then on his young life was plagued by fevers, seizures, migraines--almost... Read more Published 8 months ago by Mary Verdick 5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth your time! I was compelled to read this book after seeing Quinn and his mother on The View talking about his journey and this book. Read more Published 8 months ago by Michelle C. Zinkiewicz Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs; 1 edition (March 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586481894
• ISBN-13: 978-1586481896
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #374,719 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt and informative--and oh how the title fits!, April 21, 2009

By	David H. Rothman, author of The Solomon Scand... (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews

What if your father is Ben Bradlee, your mother's Sally Quinn, and you're stuck with a learning disorder that disrupts even prosaic activities?

Never mind growing up to help expose another Watergate or skewer pretentious socialites. Suppose you have trouble understanding most books or face memory problems.

Just what to do, especially in a brutal, hierarchical place like Washington, D.C.? In politics and media, the generals and their families are expected to put on a good show for the troops. How to respond? Should your family hide you from the public or gloss over your shortcomings?

Luckily the parents of Quinn Bradlee, a plucky 26-year-old born with Velo-Cardio-Facial Syndrome, let him and a skillful collaborator tell the whole story or at far more than we might have anticipated. Ben Bradlee and wife had apparently envisioned their son writing a buttoned-down book without earthy language--perhaps a respectful look at the boy's ancestors, since Quinn is a genealogy buff. But Quinn and his not-so-hidden ghost wisely avoided this PRish tack.

The two paid due tribute to Bradlee and Quinn forebears, but kept in the S word. In fact, they even wrote a scene set on a Caribbean island, Saint Martin, where Quinn loses his virginity to a hooker with skin "as black as the night sky and black curly hair that came down to her shoulder." Quinn's hooker story would be mere titillation by itself; but A Different Life is full of, say, his reflections on women and life in general--naïve in places, but just the same, genuinely his. He does not just share his triumphs at a boarding school for people with disabilities; he also tells of the vicious hazing there. Honesty is the salient trait of this work. What Quinn's story misses in eloquence at times, he more than makes up in credibility of voice.

Beyond that, Quinn and collaborator skillfully weave into the book insights on VCFS: how to spot it, how to cope with it, how to accept it. At length they quote Dr. Robert Shprintzen, who, besides having helped Quinn, wrote of the first paper to describe the heart-related syndrome, in 1978. Some 150,000 people here in the U.S. suffer from VCFS, which comes with a whole range of mental and physical complications.

Quinn is into film, not traditional journalism; but with the help of his friend, tutor, and ghost, Jeff Himmelman, he appears to have made a solid contribution in the area of health coverage, efforts that go on via a stylish, useful Web site promoted in the book. FriendsOfQuinn.com also educates visitors about other learning disabilities.

A Different Life: Growing Up Learning Disabled and Other Adventures, the full title of the book itself, is a clever play on the one for Ben Bradlee's autobiography called A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. Without meaning to slight the father, may I suggest that to many readers, the son's book may be more memorable? The older Bradlee, born into an aristocratic Boston family, suffered from polio and had his own struggles. But they paled beside those which the young Quinn has faced, does face, and will face. Quinn's biggest challenge, of course, will be his destiny after his parents die. His father is 87; his mother, 68.

The good news for the parents is that the origins of Quinn's disease, while genetic, apparently haven't anything to do their ages at the time of conception. No need for guilt in that respect or probably most others. Ben Bradlee and Sally Quinn, as stated in the book, never hesitated to spend money on Quinn's tutors and other special advantages; and even more importantly, they gave him time rather than just locking him in an institution as an "expert" had suggested.

Still, is there anything more that the parents can do? Perhaps I've overlooked something; but I can't recall any mention in A Different Life of the role that the right technology might play in truly nudging Quinn into the world of books. Quinn can read out passages from books and is even a fan of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, drawn in by the conversational style, but he generally has trouble processing printed information. Imagine the benefits of text to speech. Has Quinn ever experimented with that capability on a Kindle or other machine?

I'm thinking of a Floridian who--with the help of software that read words aloud to him as they showed up on his laptop computer screen--turned himself from a Wal-Mart clerk into a teacher. I doubt that Quinn could effect a transformation of that magnitude; but tech is worth a try if he and others like him are to learn to enjoy more books. Searching FriendsOfQuinn.com, I didn't find one reference to "e-books" or "ebooks" with sound capabilities in use. If, in fact, nothing is there, perhaps Quinn and his Web community could explore these digital options.

Within the employment area, here's a possibility for Quinn himself although it could apply to others in his situation. Imagine Quinn as a Web usability tester working directly for the Washington Post itself, not just the company that created FriendsOfQuinn.com. If he can cope with a certain kind of interface, there is a good chance that the rest of the world can. Coal mines and canaries and all so on. That's just one tiny example of how people like Quinn can contribute to society and businesses.

Meanwhile bravo to Quinn for a heartfelt and informative book, and to his parents for raising him to make such achievements possible.

David Rothman
Author of The Solomon Scandals
(A Washington newspaper novel)
Editor-publisher, TeleRead.org
(Devoted to e-books and related topics)

Note: Sorry about the length of this review, but I felt that Quinn Bradlee's book was worth it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The books power derives from the author's authenticity, April 15, 2009

By	Lynn Hanley (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

I am in awe of this young man because he is determined to contribute, to have his life count. Anyone with a learning disability and any parent of a child with a learning disability or VCFS, and anyone who has been insensitive about learning disabilities, should read this book. Its about living well no matter what. Its also shows clearly what its like to have one's brain mix things up.

What held me to every page is that the author's reporting of his emotional experience is honest. We meet the real Quinn and the real-time experience of being differently-abled.

Its a marvelous book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A walk in his shoes., April 20, 2009

By	Joan A. Cooke "jcooke99" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book not only educates you on his syndrome, but is a real walk in his shoes. We THINK we can understand how it feels to someone special. Quinn Bradlee lets us become him. I am thrilled to have that experience. I better understand how to interact with all types of people. Should be required reading for all high school kids. Some language and personal experiences by Quinn make it questionable for kids under high school age. Parents,however, should read parts of this book to those younger kids. This is a book about understanding and tolerance.