Vivid portrayals of lives disrupted and freedom denied.
The human consequences of the Dobbs decision.
Health care reporter Luthra makes her book debut with an intense look at the lives of patients and providers after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. She takes her title from the 1992 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Court held that states could limit access to abortion, as long as the limitation did not impose what the Court called “an undue burden,” a phrase that they left undefined. As Luthra traveled throughout the country, she found frustration and anguish in states where women had no or limited access to abortion. In Texas, which enacted a six-week ban on abortions even before the Supreme Court’s decision, 16-year-old Tiffany was trapped in a system that she felt powerless to negotiate, lacking resources to find help or leave Houston. Kaleigh, 29, drove 500 miles, with her boyfriend, from Dallas to a clinic in New Mexico, the nearest she could find, where she was given mifepristone and misoprostol; her abortion cost her $700. In Florida, which had a 15-week ban, the author met Jasper, a transgender man who did not realize he was pregnant until it was almost too late to get an abortion in his state. In Oklahoma, which had only four clinics in the entire state that provided abortions, and which, like Texas, soon copied a six-week ban, Luthra met providers overwhelmed with demand. Patients and providers revealed the fear, anger, and betrayal they felt as laws changed. One woman in Kansas had an abortion scheduled for just two days after a critical vote affirmed access. The author underscores the way the Dobbs decision has exacerbated inequality, victimizing Black and Latine women who cannot afford to travel to New Mexico, Illinois, California, and Colorado, where abortion is legal.
Vivid portrayals of lives disrupted and freedom denied.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9780385550086
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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