See all Editorial Reviews. Product details File Size: Counterpoint December 1, Publication Date: November 1, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers.

Account Options

Write a customer review. Showing of 7 reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. Kindle Edition Verified Purchase.

Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars

It is hard to describe this book without sounding like you are talking about two separate books. One is personal story of working through the personal struggles of the person you care for the most but are not able to fix. The other is the story of discovery that comes from being fixated with the universe. Somehow these two tracks merge beautifully and provide a shared perspective that anyone who has fought depression or battled it along with someone they love will be able to relate.

I would recommend this wonderful book to anyone in the middle of such a battle, hoping in these pages they find the same comfort I found. This is an "enjoyable" book. Given its subjects of depression and astronomy, one would expect a heavy read; however, I zipped through the pages with ease. Perhaps it is because I enjoy astronomy and cosmology, but I rather think it is because the book is well written and edited. It is not a light read by any means, both subjects are serious and DeBlieu treats them as such.

However, she describes them in layman's terms and only provides enough technical information to explain her views of the concepts.

HOW IT WORKS: The International Space Station

That approach makes it easy for any reader to grasp the insights she presents. The book is more about her experience with her husband's depression, than his experience. I appreciate that approach, as it is first-hand and personal. She does not try to write the book on his behalf nor does she pretends to understand what he is going through. In fact, her own confusion and suffering comes to the fore every now and then, but she never dwells on it or look for sympathy. It provides wonderful perspectives for spouses and family members of depression sufferers.

But be warned, DeBlieu does not provide a cure for depression nor does she have the ultimate answer for living with a depression sufferer. This is not what the book is about. It is rather about a personal experience and how she coped with it. At best, it registers empathy with those who suffer from depression and their loved ones who are affected by it without choice.

Having suffered from depression for a number of years myself, the glimpses that DeBlieu provides of her husband's experience are startling real. And the fact that depressed people can do little about it is downright frightening even though they we know it is true. I particularly appreciated the way she aligned the complexity of the human mind with the complexity of cosmology and astronomy.

Buy for others

It is true that it is non-scientific and rather her way of coping with and thinking about depression as an illness of the mind, but her views are easy to relate to and provides that little bit of a different perspective to the everyday sadness of depression. I recommend this book strongly for anyone who is living with or close to a depression sufferer as well as to anybody inclined towards depression.

It is uplifting to both parties to see that it is possible to deal with depression even if it might require adjustments and sacrifices. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem?


  1. .
  2. March 2006.
  3. ?
  4. .
  5. Bookslut | Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars by Jan DeBlieu?
  6. ;
  7. Diamond Love Finally Mr. Right Not Mr. Right Now (Invisible Currents Book 1).

Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Year of the Comets by Jan Deblieu. Year of the Comets: On the clearest nights in the darkest places you can see as many as two thousand stars. On what scaffolding are they hung?

Jan DeBlieu began to wonder. Her husband had become enveloped in a depression of his own, and both he and DeBlieu were struggling to find points of light out of that darkness. DeBlieu discovers it in the sky above, a firmament of order and beauty that On the clearest nights in the darkest places you can see as many as two thousand stars.

Year of the Comets: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars by Jan Deblieu

DeBlieu discovers it in the sky above, a firmament of order and beauty that prompts her to consider the worlds inside our minds, the delicate framework of neurons and synapses that support our fragile selves. Year of the Comets is her record of the journey she and her husband take from pain to healing. Paperback , pages. Published November 1st by Counterpoint first published April 10th To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Year of the Comets , please sign up.

See a Problem?

Lists with This Book. Sep 16, Beth Browne rated it it was amazing. The irony is that just as she was busy making larger discoveries, her husband Jeff was disappearing into a smaller and smaller version of himself. DeBlieu did not know what to do to help him, and thus she turned to the stars, in an effort to help herself. It was something he had to largely accomplish on his own however, and DeBlieu found herself in a support role during this time.

The stars were something concrete, something real that she could look at and understand. She could track comets and see where they were going next; as opposed to the unfolding mystery in her own home. It is no surprise that the night sky would hold such an irresistible lure for the writer, she wanted to understand something and if it could not be the man she loved, then at least it could be the stars. I found Year of the Comets to be a very compelling read. The opportunity to learn at the side of a fellow amateur stargazer was particularly appealing as I have turned our own telescope to the Moon and the planets on more than one occasion, hoping to seem something that will stir me beyond my own predictable life.

I liked learning about Thomas Harriott and Charles Messier and Edwin Hubble and having DeBlieu along for a guide made this journey into astronomy both pleasant and fascinating. I think as a science writer in particular, she is someone to watch.


  • THE FORGIVENESS (Kingdom Of the Ligth Collection).
  • Customers who viewed this item also viewed?
  • Editorial Reviews;
  • Ecoviolence: Links Among Environment, Population, and Security.
  • YEAR OF THE COMETS: A Journey from Sadness to the Stars!