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

Prominent CNN anchor and 60 Minutes correspondent Cooper and his mother, Vanderbilt, a famous designer, artist, and cultural icon who has contended with the ups and downs of the spotlight for over nine decades, provide a heartfelt dialogue in their new title, which is timed to coincide with an HBO documentary film. Cooper and Vanderbilt perform the audio edition in a highly conversational format, though they each draw on their own backgrounds in how they play the parts. As a high-powered television journalist reaching midlife, Cooper asks his questions with focus and drive that viewers have come to expect from him on the air, while the more contemplative and artistic Vanderbilt presents her content largely in a spoken form of letter writing from a bygone era. They demonstrate some of their most revealing traits and perspectives through the “agree to disagree” exchanges of the narrative, such as their ideas about whether everything in life happens for a reason. Listeners steeped in pop culture history probably represent the most obvious target audience; the palpable expressions of grace and tenderness will also hold appeal for a larger audience of parents and adult children coming to terms with the past. A Harper hardcover. (Apr.)