Title: The Rainbow Comes and Goes: A Mother and Son on Life, Love, and Loss

Authors: Gloria Vanderbilt, Anderson Cooper

Read in: June 2016

One sentence summary: Successful broadcast journalist and his successful designer mother share reflect on their family past through letters written to each other.

Gloria Vanderbilt has had one heckuva roller coast ride of a life. From being the center of a custody battle at a young age, to dealing with unfathomable loss of a husband and a son, to losing a business and building a life back up, this woman has a lot to reflect on from her life.

Anderson Cooper has built an amazing career, purposefully not taking advantage of the glamorous name his mother no doubt would have brought for him. He has made a note to keep stories to themselves until here and here he is revealing about his brother’s suicide, his father’s death at a young age, and his coming out. On the other side, Vanderbilt had a carefree way of discussing the men in her life, the abuse she took in some cases, the feeling of losing your family, or those you always saw as family. What is most incredible to me is that woman is in her 90s! And is so eloquent with her words.

Just as the title alludes, this is a family that has experienced quite a bit of loss. But the two of them have managed to overcome those hurdles, and take that rainbow when it comes. Surely you appreciate it more once you’ve seen it go.

Knowing how hard it sometimes is to talk to family in person, I found the letter-writing format that the mother and son developed to be a very real, very “I could easily see doing something like this with my child one day”.

Recommended to: readers who like memoirs, hollywood starlets, or are a fan of Anderson Cooper.