A heartfelt, though not entirely organized, collection of musings on love, family, growth, and loss.
A woman recounts her unconventional upbringing, her relationships, and the loss of her sister in this memoir.
Khamsaly’s expansive coming-of-age story looks optimistically toward the future. In a couple of hundred pages, she shares details about her family, work, passion for music, academic successes (and failures), body image, depression, and more. She outlines her free-wheeling and rebellious nature; raised by globe-trotting hippies and partially home-schooled, the author donned many roles—single mother and divorcée, chanteuse, wife, and survivor. As the memoir unfolds, Khamsaly’s narrative seems to develop in real time, with diaristic snapshots of her moods (“I’m struggling hard with the dark this winter. Even my medication does not lift the depression right now. I’ll be doing alright during the light of day and then, boom! The sun sets and I feel trapped in a dark box and it’s as if my every dream and aspiration has been ripped away and I now exist for no purpose whatsoever except to suffer claustrophobia and dread”). The book reads less like a polished memoir and more like a well-maintained blog, and what holds the work together is the recurring sense of grief and longing for an older sister who, at 24, died from leukemia. As Khamsaly continues to circle back to tender moments with her sister and the impact that her death had on her and her family, she holds a magnifying glass to the long-lasting effects of sibling relationships. If there is one substantive critique to give, it’s that the memoir tackles too many topics, undermining its focus and structure. But while another round of edits would possibly add coherence, there is something compelling about the immediacy of Khamsaly’s prose.
A heartfelt, though not entirely organized, collection of musings on love, family, growth, and loss.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-578-33726-5
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Blackberry Moonshine Press
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The choir is sure to enjoy this impassioned preaching on familiar progressive themes.
Essays on current political topics by a high-profile actor and activist.
Milano explains in an introduction that she began writing this uneven collection while dealing with a severe case of Covid-19 and suffering from "persistent brain fog.” In the first essay, "On Being Unapologetically Fucked Up,” the author begins by fuming over a February 2019 incident in which she compared MAGA caps worn by high school kids to KKK hoods. She then runs through a grab bag of flash-point news items (police shootings, border crimes, sexual predators in government), deploying the F-bomb with abandon and concluding, "What I know is that fucked up is as fundamental a state of the world as night and day. But I know there is better. I know that ‘less fucked up’ is a state we can live in.” The second essay, "Believe Women," discusses Milano’s seminal role in the MeToo movement; unfortunately, it is similarly conversational in tone and predictable in content. One of the few truly personal essays, "David," about the author's marriage, refutes the old saw about love meaning never having to say you're sorry, replacing it with "Love means you can suggest a national sex strike and your husband doesn't run away screaming." Milano assumes, perhaps rightly, that her audience is composed of followers and fans; perhaps these readers will know what she is talking about in the seemingly allegorical "By Any Other Name," about her bad experience with a certain rosebush. "Holy shit, giving birth sucked," begins one essay. "Words are weird, right?" begins the next. "Welp, this is going to piss some of you off. Hang in there," opens a screed about cancel culture—though she’s entirely correct that “it’s childish, divisive, conceited, and Trumpian to its core.” By the end, however, Milano's intelligence, compassion, integrity, and endurance somewhat compensate for her lack of literary polish.
The choir is sure to enjoy this impassioned preaching on familiar progressive themes.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-18329-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A fascinating and funny look at the life of a famous actor who found further fulfillment through giving back.
The actor discusses his career on the stage and in film, and his life focusing on the value of art and public service.
Now 66, Stern, perhaps best known for his roles in Home Alone and City Slickers, is no longer "the precocious teenager who moved to New York as a seventeen-year-old, at least ten years younger than all of my friends, the youngest dad at all my kids’ school events.” As he discusses his childhood in Maryland, his introduction to the theater, and writing a musical version of Lord of the Flies, the author's love of the work shows through on every page—as does his family’s legacy of a strong work ethic (his mother told him, “I don’t care what you do but you are out of this house when you turn eighteen”). Realizing that “academics were not going to get me anywhere,” he committed to acting. After some early stage work, he began working in films, appearing in a number of critically successful projects in the late 1970s and early ’80s, including Breaking Away and Diner. Stern analyzes key moments in the development of his craft, as well as the twists and turns of a very public life, which included work with the USO and the experience of being sued for $25 million over a TV show. Although readers may pick up the book to learn more about Hollywood, his focus on his work-life balance brings some of the most memorable passages, from his narration and directing work in the TV series The Wonder Years (which included no on-screen billing), which helped him overcome his childhood dyslexia, to his experience working with the Boys & Girls Club and his lifelong focus on public service.
A fascinating and funny look at the life of a famous actor who found further fulfillment through giving back.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781632280930
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
© Copyright 2025 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.
