Engaging, if slightly superficial, essays on modern life from the perspective of a military spouse and mother.
A collection of essays by a U.S. Marine Corps wife explores a wide range of topics, from Star Trek to the family cat.
This book comprises 46 short essays, written in the “exasperated housewife” tone popularized by newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck, whom Diersen (Thinner Skin, 2014, etc.) cites in the essay “I Heart John-Boy” as one of her favorite authors. Previously published on Diersen’s online blog, the essays are divided into six sections. “On Children and Parenting” and “On Marriage and Relationships” contain stories from the author’s life as the wife of a Marine officer (referred to in the text only as “the Jarhead”) and the mother of two grown children, dubbed El Noblé and Princess Primrose. Other sections, like “Obsessions, Confessions, and Possessions” and “On Politics and Culture,” explore Diersen’s thoughts on such varied topics as favorite commercials, the emotional issues of the family cat, and gay marriage. In almost every case, the author employs a light, even glib, narrative style to deliver a sincere and thoughtful message. For example, “My Sci-Fi Fantasy,” which enumerates the five items of Star Trek technology she “wouldn’t mind having,” ends poignantly by placing at the top of the list Dr. McCoy’s cure for kidney disease so that she could alleviate her aunt’s need for dialysis. Similarly, “Pot Luck” expands a humorous account of a Georgia police raid on an okra farm they mistakenly believe is growing marijuana into a brief analysis of unjust drug seizure laws. Readers may tire of Diersen’s relentlessly perky tone, and there are some instances of dark humor that risk becoming alienating, such as in “The Limits of Togetherness,” in which she speculates on the ways her husband might murder her, given half a chance. But the majority of the essays are personable and entertaining, and Diersen concludes with two examples of her fiction, a short story and a novel excerpt, that pique the reader’s interest in her other works, including the novels Unmatched (2012) and Thinner Skin.
Engaging, if slightly superficial, essays on modern life from the perspective of a military spouse and mother.Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-56055-6
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Blue Gentian Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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