A powerfully written, fitting eulogy for a life cut short.
A debut biographical work offers a tribute to a teenage victim of a school shooting.
Seventeen-year-old Nicholas Dworet was one of the 17 murder victims of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In this touching book, centered on Dworet’s “memory and legacy,” the description of that tragic day is barely given a page. Rather than focusing on his death, the work instead celebrates his life as a son, a brother, a friend, and an accomplished swimmer. Indeed, it was Dworet’s athletic career as a swimmer that inspired Albano, a record-holding professional swimmer from nearby Fort Lauderdale, to tell his story. Based on firsthand interviews with Dworet’s family, friends, and coaches, the volume provides readers an intimate look into his short life. Born a “little fish,” Dworet loved water before he could even articulate sentences, and was hailed by swimming program instructors as a “future star” by age 7. The stories include good-natured, occasionally funny, personal anecdotes from those who knew and loved him; nostalgic descriptions of family traditions; and exciting accounts of Dworet’s races. These tales, in addition to the inclusion of Dworet’s own writing (such as social media posts and essays like “My Mistakes Are My Strengths” written for school projects), form a concise, poignant account that honors his life without dwelling on his tragic death. Ample family photographs, in addition to QR codes linked to videos of swim meets, effectively acquaint readers with Dworet’s big heart, athleticism, and infectiously optimistic personality. The book’s ancillary materials include a heartbreaking letter written by Dworet’s mother to her son less than a year after his murder, detailing the yellowing Post-it notes and fortunes from Chinese cookies still affixed to his closet door and the “thoughts I need to share with you and conversations we never got to have.” The work, whose proceeds will be donated to the Nicholas Dworet Memorial Trust, concludes with songs (such as “We Want Change” by rapper Hi-Rez) and other memorials dedicated to the swimmer. These additions, combined with Albano’s emotive writing style, make for a stirring tribute.
A powerfully written, fitting eulogy for a life cut short.Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 170
Publisher: CG Sports Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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