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

by Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt

Overview

A touching and intimate correspondence between Anderson Cooper and his mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, offering timeless wisdom and a revealing glimpse into their lives

Though Anderson Cooper has always considered himself close to his mother, his intensely busy career as a journalist for CNN and CBS affords him little time to spend with her. After she suffers a brief but serious illness at the age of ninety-one, they resolve to change their relationship by beginning a year-long conversation unlike any they had ever had before. The result is a correspondence of surprising honesty and depth in which they discuss their lives, the things that matter to them, and what they still want to learn about each other.

Both a son’s love letter to his mother and an unconventional mom’s life lessons for her grown son, The Rainbow Comes and Goes offers a rare window into their close relationship and fascinating life stories, including their tragedies and triumphs. In these often humorous and moving exchanges, they share their most private thoughts and the hard-earned truths they’ve learned along the way. In their words their distinctive personalities shine through—Anderson’s journalistic outlook on the world is a sharp contrast to his mother’s idealism and unwavering optimism.

An appealing memoir with inspirational advice, The Rainbow Comes and Goes is a beautiful and affectionate celebration of the universal bond between a parent and a child, and a thoughtful reflection on life, reminding us of the precious insight that remains to be shared, no matter our age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062454959
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/31/2017
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	66,774
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Anderson Cooper is an anchor at CNN and a correspondent for CBS’s 60 Minutes. He has won twenty Emmys and numerous other major journalism awards. Cooper is the author of the New York Times bestseller Astor (with Katherine Howe) and three number one New York Times bestsellers: The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Dispatches from the Edge, and Vanderbilt (with Katherine Howe). He lives in New York with his two sons.

Gloria Vanderbilt is an American artist, writer, and designer. Her artwork can be found at GloriaVanderbiltfineart.com. She is the author of eight books and has been a regular contributor to the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Elle. She lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

A remarkably frank and tender undertaking.

New York Times

Fascinating, forthright, philosophical, and inspiring, these mother-and-son musings on family, life, death, forgiveness, fame, and perseverance are at once uniquely personal and deeply human.

Booklist (starred review)

A layered mix of reminiscences, heart-rending revelations and apologia, all captured with unsparing candor. . . . Rainbows may in fact come and go, but this revealing take on the forces that shaped two dynamic lives promises to have real staying power.

AARP Magazine

Meaningful, revealing...

Wall Street Journal

04/11/2016
Vanderbilt and her son, Cooper, relate the touching story of how an epistolary exchange created new emotional intimacy between them. After fashion designer and society icon Vanderbilt, now 92, became seriously ill in 2015, Cooper, a globe-trotting journalist, questioned their closeness and realized much had gone unsaid between them. He sets about rectifying that by opening an email exchange that proves illuminating and healing. Vanderbilt's early years were rife with tragedy, and her father died before she was two years old; in parallel, Cooper's father died when Cooper was 10. Vanderbilt writes of having no one to talk to about the turmoil around her childhood and adolescence, leading to countless regrettable turns such as dropping out at 17 to marry a decades-older man, and it never occurred to her to share or explain to her sons what she endured. Cooper recalls feeling loved by his mother, but also feeling that he barely knew her. As Cooper delves into their respective pasts, he starts to understand that, following the deaths of his father and older brother, he also took big risks motivated by the out-of-control circumstances surrounding him. Through greater openness, Cooper and Vanderbilt achieve a new closeness, demonstrating in this intimate and lively read that it's never too late to have a rich relationship with family. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Intriguing… an ideal Mother’s/Father’s Day gift, with the opening, ‘Let’s get to know each other better’…Affectionate, heartfelt, inspirational, and sometimes hilarious, the book’s message is that it is never too late to cultivate a new relationship with your family and break down those walls of silence.” — Bay Area Reporter

“A beautiful book that will resonate for all generations, especially mothers and their sons . . . riveting, touching, dishy, funny, and surprising.” — Andy Cohen

“Fascinating, forthright, philosophical, and inspiring, these mother-and-son musings on family, life, death, forgiveness, fame, and perseverance are at once uniquely personal and deeply human.” — Booklist (starred review)

“[A] touching story. . . . Through greater openness, Cooper and Vanderbilt achieve a new closeness, demonstrating in this intimate and lively read that it’s never too late to have a rich relationship with family.” — Publishers Weekly

“A layered mix of reminiscences, heart-rending revelations and apologia, all captured with unsparing candor. . . . Rainbows may in fact come and go, but this revealing take on the forces that shaped two dynamic lives promises to have real staying power.” — AARP Magazine

“A remarkably frank and tender undertaking.” — New York Times

“Meaningful, revealing.” — Wall Street Journal

“This is a book like no other I have ever read…if any two people have lived through way more than their share of crises, singly and collectively, it is Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. Their brave engagement with what they confront so staunchly in this extraordinary dialogue leaves me quite simply awestruck.” — Washington Times

“Memoir readers (and Hollywood fans) will appreciate this book, especially those interested in relationships between mothers and sons. A perfect Mother’s Day read.” — Library Journal

“Entertaining and thoughtful moments exchanged between a mother and son who have spent much of their lives in the spotlight.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Through greater openness, Cooper and Vanderbilt achieve a new closeness, demonstrating in this intimate and lively read that it’s never too late to have a rich relationship with family.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

A beautiful book that will resonate for all generations, especially mothers and their sons . . . riveting, touching, dishy, funny, and surprising.

Andy Cohen

This is a book like no other I have ever read…if any two people have lived through way more than their share of crises, singly and collectively, it is Anderson Cooper and Gloria Vanderbilt. Their brave engagement with what they confront so staunchly in this extraordinary dialogue leaves me quite simply awestruck.

Washington Times

Intriguing… an ideal Mother’s/Father’s Day gift, with the opening, ‘Let’s get to know each other better’…Affectionate, heartfelt, inspirational, and sometimes hilarious, the book’s message is that it is never too late to cultivate a new relationship with your family and break down those walls of silence.

Bay Area Reporter

Meaningful, revealing.

Wall Street Journal

05/01/2016
Weeks before her 91st birthday, Vanderbilt (Obsession) experiences her first major illness. While she's hospitalized, her son Cooper (Dispatches from the Edge) is overseas. When Cooper returns home, he resolves to leave nothing unsaid between them. The result of that promise is this epistolary memoir, a yearlong conversation between the author and his mother via email. There's the infamous custody case separating Vanderbilt from her mother at age ten, her intimate relationships, her career in fashion and the arts, the loss of husband Wyatt Cooper, Anderson's father, and the suicide of her son, Anderson's older brother Carter. With five autobiographies under her belt, one wonders what Vanderbilt has left unsaid, but the strength of this book is that she's saying it for the first time to her son. Cooper draws her out, learning not just what happened to her, but how she felt—and this is his story, too. He describes losing his father and brother, and his perspective on the day he came out to her. VERDICT Memoir readers (and Hollywood fans) will appreciate this book, especially those interested in relationships between mothers and sons. A perfect Mother's Day read.—Terry Bosky, Madison, WI

Library Journal

This is a bittersweet, touching, and intimate series of email conversations between a celebrated mother and son, much of it in the form of questions and responses. Vanderbilt and Cooper share, sometimes sensational, family histories as well as philosophies on the vicissitudes of life. A CNN and CBS journalist, Cooper has a highly recognizable vocal quality, and his narrative tone is thoughtful, distinctive, and pleasant. His delivery is especially adept in the difficult passages addressing the early death of his father and, later, the suicide of his older brother, Carter. Vanderbilt’s skillful, forceful, and distinct narration is remarkable for her 91 years. The widely seen HBO documentary with the same name as this audiobook seems to be a video abridgment of this more expansive work. It’s better to get to know your mother or son well late in life—than never at all. This is a moving listening experience. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

MAY 2016 - AudioFile

2016-03-14
A famous mother and famous son bond through email exchanges. When Vanderbilt reached her 90s, her son, CNN journalist Cooper, realized there might not be many years left to interact, so they began to correspond via email, carrying out a conversation on the important things that have mattered in both their lives. Over the course of the following year, the two delved deeply into Vanderbilt's childhood. She discusses the loss and effects she felt from never having known her father, who died when she was very young, the trauma she experienced during the well-publicized custody trial she endured at age 10, and the closeness she felt toward her governess rather than toward her biological mother. Vanderbilt writes with frankness about her impulsive love affairs and subsequent marriages to men she barely knew but who were older and filled the emptiness that only now she realizes was created by the lack of a father in her life. Cooper also explores some of his own issues during these mother-son conversations. He discusses his own anxieties and sense of loss when his father died and his trepidation at coming out as gay to Vanderbilt. The combination of questions asked and answered brings forth much more of Vanderbilt's hidden life than that of Cooper, allowing readers insight into a woman whose name is known and who has shared much of her life through various memoirs. The perspective of old age and the distance from past events has allowed her to unveil these new aspects to her son and now to readers. The takeaway for mother and son is a closeness they didn't have before, and their interchanges might prompt readers to do the same with their own elderly parents, perhaps with the same outcome. Entertaining and thoughtful moments exchanged between a mother and son who have spent much of their lives in the spotlight.

Kirkus Reviews