An eye-opening chronicle of one man’s harrowing journey of self-discovery powered by perseverance, courage, and hope.
This first installment of Mushenye’s saga chronicles the trials and tribulations of a Luhya boy living in western Kenya and struggling to find his place in the world.
The narrative begins with shockingly immersive sequences that readers will not soon forget, if ever: A superstitious mother wants to cure her son Andayi of stuttering, so she hires a medicine man with alleged magic powers to “trim” his uvula. The surgery is as brutal as it is unsanitary—done with a bamboo stick with razor blades attached and no anesthesia—and the boy is lucky to survive. (“The moment he left me lying still, I started to breathe out slowly, desperately wishing and waiting for the searing pain to ease. It took a protracted interval to subdue the agony before I could even think of moving a muscle.”) The horrific incident pales, however, next to an even more traumatic experience soon thereafter. When Andayi’s older brother, Rono, leaves for a month-long ritualized retreat in a sacred forest that will supposedly make him a man, Andayi tricks his mother and secretly follows the group of boys Rono is with deep into the wilderness. He is eventually caught and forced to undergo the generations-long rite that will make him a man: circumcision. “As soon as I caught sight of the bloody knife at work on [my brother’s] bleeding rocket, the reality of what I was about to experience hit me like a bolt of lightning. My eyes shuddered with instant shock and terror. The rush of adrenaline was so sudden that they nearly popped out. As I struggled to comprehend the grisly torment, my brain sought to reboot and believe what I saw, but it didn’t work.” Surviving the “rocket-sculpting ritual,” as well as a month of revelatory education from adult mentors, makes Andayi a different person when he returns to his village—but he is still deeply flawed, embracing childish attitudes and behaviors like bullying, lying, and blaming others for his own inadequacies. When he flunks out of high school, he is faced with some troubling realizations—without the opportunities provided by a higher education, his future holds little promise. With his mother’s help, he reassesses his life and vows to, somehow, further his education in the land of plenty. (“I had no money and didn’t even know where America was.”)
There’s a genuineness, authenticity, and refreshing candor to Mushenye’s writing. The Kenyan-born novelist’s meticulous description of Luhya culture—its traditions and superstitions—is an undeniable strength, as is his main character’s relentless self-analysis and self-reflection. His story is a profound coming-of-age tale replete with numerous tidbits of wisdom along the way: “Patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet. If you stretch your imagination beyond what you know or have seen, you will come across new opportunities.” The novel’s chief failing is its lack of a satisfying conclusion. The end of the book is more of a respite, a stopping point that sets up the second installment well but leaves readers hanging.
An eye-opening chronicle of one man’s harrowing journey of self-discovery powered by perseverance, courage, and hope.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
