A captivating and movingly elegiac memoir.
Brewster chronicles the histories of 17th-century books that came into his family’s possession in the 1800s, and, through them, the troubled past of his clan.
In 1951, when the author was 10 years old and his brother, Sam, was 12, the pair found some old tomes in the attic of their home in Glen Cove, New York. The books were very old, and it was soon revealed that they dated all the way back to the mid-1600s. They were originally purchased by William Stoughton, who’s best known as the judge who presided over the infamous Salem witch trials, and who signed the death warrants of those who were unjustly convicted. One of the volumes bore what the author calls “creepy flyleaf notations,” handwritten by Stoughton, that mentioned “evil spirits.” The young author thought that this referred to a curse that haunted his own troubled family; later, he realized that Stoughton had pulled the phrase from a satirical poem about indefatigable bill collectors. The Brewster family originally obtained the books in 1801, and Brewster uses them in the memoir as a way to enter into a discussion of his family’s affluent but often unquiet past—one marked by war, depression, suicide, and even murder. The author recalls painful moments in his own personal history, as well, including a sexual assault he experienced as a boy almost 70 years ago, which he relates with the urgency of someone who’s determined to bear witness: “Harm and rage that will not go away, no matter how many decades pass, need to be voiced and heard.”
Brewster presents a memoir that’s intriguingly unconventional in style and structure. Although the narrative is built around the nearly 400-year-old tomes, it quickly transcends them and ultimately relates not only the author’s family history, but also a reflection on human nature: “My purpose in writing this little book has been not to document, much less glorify, any splinter or fragment of society. I mean only to tell a few stories, some comical, some sad or tragic, but in every case stories of universal human experience.” His family members’ lives are almost cinematically dramatic; in one memorable episode, for instance, the author flew to Turkey when he learned that his older brother, Tom, had been arrested for attempting to overthrow the government—a charge largely based on Tom’s possession of a Kurdish-Turkish dictionary. The curse of the evil spirits, as the young author understood it, made a profound impression upon him, and he saw it, in part, as an expression of inevitable torment that comes with wealth and an unceasing devotion to business. Overall, it’s an affecting work, and a thoughtful and engrossing meditation on attempting to come to grips with family difficulties that, as presented here, seem to have an air of inexorability. Brewster’s writing is elegantly polished, but also casually anecdotal, and the remembrance as a whole is so concise that readers are likely to be left wanting to read more of his recollections.
A captivating and movingly elegiac memoir.Pub Date: Sept. 28, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9913520-6-7
Page Count: 198
Publisher: Protean Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.
A history of the right to vote in America.
Since the nation’s founding, many Americans have been uneasy about democracy. Law and policy expert Waldman (The Second Amendment: A Biography, 2014, etc.), president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, offers a compelling—and disheartening—history of voting in America, from provisions of the Constitution to current debates about voting rights and campaign financing. In the Colonies, only white male property holders could vote and did so in public, by voice. With bribery and intimidation rampant, few made the effort. After the Revolution, many states eliminated property requirements so that men over 21 who had served in the militia could vote. But leaving voting rules to the states disturbed some lawmakers, inciting a clash between those who wanted to restrict voting and those “who sought greater democracy.” That clash fueled future debates about allowing freed slaves, immigrants, and, eventually, women to vote. In 1878, one leading intellectual railed against universal suffrage, fearing rule by “an ignorant proletariat and a half-taught plutocracy.” Voting corruption persisted in the 19th century, when adoption of the secret ballot “made it easier to stuff the ballot box” by adding “as many new votes as proved necessary.” Southern states enacted disenfranchising measures, undermining the 15th Amendment. Waldman traces the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Supreme Court’s dismal record on voting issues (including Citizens United); and the contentious fight to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which “became a touchstone of consensus between Democrats and Republicans” and was reauthorized four times before the Supreme Court “eviscerated it in 2013.” Despite increased access to voting, over the years, turnout has fallen precipitously, and “entrenched groups, fearing change, have…tried to reduce the opportunity for political participation and power.” Waldman urges citizens to find a way to celebrate democracy and reinvigorate political engagement for all.
A timely contribution to the discussion of a crucial issue.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1648-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
An eloquent depiction of how birding engenders a deep love of our ecosystems and a more profound understanding of ourselves.
A delightful ode to birds and a powerful defense of the planet we share with them.
In this moving memoir, filmmaker and novelist Kumar explores encounters with birds as meditations on the natural world. Told in a series of vignettes comprised of notable bird sightings, the narrative offers countless magnificent reminders of the beauty and force of nature as well as warnings of human-caused destruction as bird populations plummet due to such factors as habitat loss, water shortages, and changing temperatures. Kumar didn’t take up birding until her 20s, when a chance encounter on the beach with some avid birders and a flock of curlews transformed her life. This experience became her access point to nature, and she nurtured that connection, whether living in urban settings like Los Angeles or, later, rural New Mexico, where “even the winters are sun-drenched.” Through birds, the author was able to revisit the childhood intimacy with her surroundings that she cherished growing up in the heavily forested mountains of northeastern India. “Birds became a portal to a more vivid, enchanted world,” she writes, and “allowed me once again to relish solitude in the way I had as a child.” This sense of enchantment permeates the book as she brings us along on her adventures, including long odysseys to see bald eagles, bobcat sightings through her living room window, and glimpses of the mango-colored tanager in a city park. The author is clearly concerned about leaving a planet rich with wildlife for her children, but her ancestors are also on her mind. She lost both her parents and brother as a young adult, and she connects to their spirits through birds and nature. Ultimately, this is a book about the interconnectedness of generations and ecosystems, and birds are the conduit between the two. “Sometimes it just takes the right bird to awaken us,” writes Kumar.
An eloquent depiction of how birding engenders a deep love of our ecosystems and a more profound understanding of ourselves.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-57131-399-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Milkweed
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
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