No answers here, but lots of provocative questions amid sobs, sighs and odes to joy.
Everything you ever wanted to know about in vitro fertilization.
IVF is not easy. It’s not fun. And oh my, the invasion of privacy! But the desire to bear a child is unbelievably powerful, as first-time author Kohl testifies in this high-pitched, very personal narrative. She and her husband, like other infertile couples, devoted vast amounts of energy to scoping out fertility clinics by gut reaction, word of mouth and advertised success rates. No regulatory agencies set rules for this process. Because of federal prohibitions against embryo research, fertility clinics in America are private enterprises whose “research” consists mostly of learning by doing. After a woman has been hormonally primed to generate multiple ova ripe for removal and fertilization by her partner’s or a donor’s semen, the eggs are incubated. After a few days, those that look healthiest are inserted into the woman’s uterus, where it is hoped one or more will implant and develop to term. Since there is no way to predict which will implant, IVF often leads to multiple births. In Kohl’s case, her first baby was a single, and she subsequently bore twin girls. All are healthy, but the author rightly notes that multiple births pose risks to both mothers and offspring. She goes on to discuss ethical and religious attitudes towards IVF, egg and sperm donors and surrogates. She also addresses the particularly thorny subject of frozen embryos, already the source of bitter courtroom battles involving knotty legal issues. Good liberal and believer in stem-cell research that she is, the author confesses she’s not so sure she wants to give up her frozen spare embryos; after her experiences with IVF, she can’t help but see them as all-too-real potential sibs for her girls.
No answers here, but lots of provocative questions amid sobs, sighs and odes to joy.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-374-14757-0
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Sarah Crichton/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
A superb work that paints the resilient athlete as a fierce competitor and an unforgettable sportsman.
Heartfelt biography of a Texas football star whose life was cut short by cancer.
Inspired by interviews with coaches, teammates and friends and a 1971 autobiography, award-winning sportswriter Dent (Twelve Mighty Orphans: The Inspiring True Story of the Mighty Mites Who Ruled Texas Football, 2007, etc.) tracks Freddie Joe Steinmark’s early years and burgeoning career with the Texas Longhorns. From his childhood in 1950s Denver, Colo., Steinmark’s interest in sports flourished, carefully groomed and profoundly encouraged by his father, a self-made athlete turned cop who’d sacrificed a professional baseball career to raise his son. “A small child with fragile bones” yet dubbed “a born winner” by early mentors, Steinmark’s diminutive stature proved a surprisingly suitable match for his steely, fearless determination on the field. Dent budgets his narrative wisely, proffering equal parts sports achievement and personal accomplishment in tracing his subject’s incremental ascent to greatness as he earned the admiration of fellow teammates like star quarterback Roger Behler. As the Longhorns’ “golden boy” key safety, the “155-pound peach-fuzz kid” exhibited drive and tireless perseverance on the gridiron, making him a respected letterman under Coach Darrell Royal. However, soon after a game-saving field performance, Steinmark suffered a crushing blow when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bone cancer that would eventually claim his life at 22. Dent also includes the story of Steinmark’s shyly romantic courtship of high-school sweetheart Linda Wheeler, an intensive love that endured throughout their tenure together at the University of Texas. The author also bolsters the biography with a fond foreword from current Texas head coach Mack Brown, who, to this day, continues to memorialize Steinmark’s legacy by bringing his photograph along to the team’s away-games.
A superb work that paints the resilient athlete as a fierce competitor and an unforgettable sportsman.Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-65285-2
Page Count: 307
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
A dramatic demystification of suicide from detailed accounts of failed suicide attempts, their circumstances, and their aftermaths. Therapist and psychology professor Heckler (John F. Kennedy Univ.) interviews 50 people, ranging from teenagers to septuagenarians, mechanics to physicians. What these people share is their ability to live meaningful lives after having failed in their suicide attempts. Heckler opens with an analysis of the most common preludes to suicide. In their own words, his subjects reveal the devastating effects of traumatic loss, extreme family dysfunction, and alienation. As each of their stories unfolds, the critical elements in the suicidal urge become identifiable. Early unresolved pain compounded by present adversity is a chief precursor of suicide. Many of the interviewees relate early experiences of loss and trauma—such as the death of a parent or sexual abuse—that they were not able to mourn: They were experts at putting up a facade. But once this facade could no longer be maintained, many of those interviewed fell into a state that Heckler identifies as the ``suicidal trance.'' At this stage, suicide seems a logical option—almost an imperative. It becomes the only sensible way to both gain control and kill the pain. But when suicide attempts fail, survivors are forced to face the reality of their self-abuse and the crisis that they were trying to ``resolve.'' In addition to grappling with the more recent calamity, Heckler's interviewees underwent a grieving process in which their original pain finally surfaced and could then be dealt with. ``Grieving actually represents the successful beginning of resolving one's past,'' he writes. The catharsis of their suicide attempts were so powerful, in fact, that many of the survivors have moved on to success in helping and counseling professions. A bibliography and resource list round out the volume. Revealing and inspiring.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1994
ISBN: 0-399-13945-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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