Immortal Bird
A Family Memoir
By Doron Weber
(Simon & Schuster, Hardcover, 9781451618068, 368pp.)
Publication Date: February 7, 2012
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover
Categories: Parenting - Fatherhood, General, Personal Memoirs
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Selected by Indie Booksellers for the February 2012 Indie Next List“Maybe I’ve finally beaten this thing, maybe three years’ struggle will not have been in vain. Maybe this is finally over . . .” —from Damon’s blog, May 2004 A FAMILY’ S LOVE lies at the heart of this gifted boy’s fight to survive. Born with a congenital heart defect that required surgery when he was a baby, Damon Weber lives a big life with spirit and independence that have always been a source of pride to his parents, Doron and Shealagh. But when Damon is diagnosed with a new illness as a teenager, his triumphant coming-of-age tale turns into a darker and more dramatic quest: his family’s race against time and a flawed heath care system.Immortal Bird is a searing account of a father’s struggle to save his remarkable son, a story of a young boy’s passion for life, and a tribute to his family’s love. It is also a story of the perils of modern medicine and the redemptive power of art in the face of the unthinkable.
Doron Weber was born in Israel, grew up in New York, and was educated at Brown University and Oxford. He has worked as a newspaper boy, busboy, waiter, and taxi driver and is the coauthor of three published nonfiction books and various articles. For fifteen years he has worked at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a nonprofit that supports science and education.
“Apowerful and lyric portrait of a son and a vibrant family.”—Toni Morrison
“I was seized by Doron Weber’s prose….We’ve gained a book of rare passion.”—Nancy Milford, author of Savage Beauty and Zelda
“I found it almost impossible to read this book, or even to see the pages, at times, through my tears. It was equally impossible to stop reading it—to turn away from its red-haired teen hero or the voice of his adoring father. The boy Damon, whose lifeis delimited by his damaged heart, emerges here as the grandest spirit in a small body since Antoine de Saint-Exupery imagined The Little Price.”—DavaSobel, author of Longitude
“Immortal Bird is the best portrait of a childhood I’ve ever seen, and a moving and unforgettable evocation of the intense love between a father and a son.”—Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb
“In language at once vivid [and] heartfelt…Weber recounts the medical battle that followed [his son’s heart condition] while powerfully conveying his love for his son. This one will disrupt your sleep.”—Library Journal Pre-Pub Alert
“A heartsick father's poignant account of his heartsick son, and a primer on the fragility of life.”—Kirkus Reviews
“[A] detailed, harrowing narrative…a tender, clear-eyed profile of his son…Weber’s heartbreaking story gives us both a tragic cautionary tale and a moving account.”—Publishers Weekly
“Ferociously tender…lovely and heartbreaking.”—People Magazine (3/5 out of 4 stars)
“Heartbreaking.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Beautifully written…[As] the end approaches, so does a sense of the miraculous: Like the brightest stars, Damon’s energy consumed him, even as it galvanized others. It’s that luminosity, carefully expressed by a devoted father, that makes this memoir so transporting."—MORE Magazine
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