A moving, genuinely uplifting tale that highlights how resilient the human spirit can be.
An inspiring true story about the power of hope, optimism, and grit in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
In his debut, former college basketball player and actor Baruti candidly chronicles his eventful life, from his poverty-laced childhood in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo to his unlikely ascent starring in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. The author begins with some cursory information about his genealogy before plunging into his family’s flight from their home and struggle to survive the horrific violence of civil war, all before the author was 10 years old. When the violence in the country became somewhat tolerable, his family settled in Kinshasa, where Baruti developed an obsession with basketball. He secured a scholarship to a prep school in America, but things went awry due to a self-interested distant cousin in the States, culture shock, an unsympathetic coach, and the ever looming threat of an invalid visa. Suspense builds as Baruti chronicles how he navigated the labyrinthine protocol of U.S. immigration law and the effect it had on his ability to play college basketball in his new home. But that was only one of the many hurdles that could have dashed his dreams at any moment. All of this drama unfolds in short, snappy chapters, and the author’s voice is friendly, clear, and direct. Much of the book centers on his love of basketball, but one needn’t be a sports fan to enjoy the book. Baruti’s optimism is so infectious and believable that readers can’t help but root for him; what may seem like naïve optimism masks an intelligent, steadfast, and defiant unwillingness to give up, no matter the odds. The author suffered countless setbacks on his journey. Consequently, by the time he makes it to Hollywood and lands a small role in a major film, readers will feel a palpable sense of triumph.
A moving, genuinely uplifting tale that highlights how resilient the human spirit can be.Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6499-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
A lively, albeit not very scholarly, account of Jan Karski's role in the WW II Polish underground. From the very first chapter (which opens in August 1939), Tennessee journalist Wood and Polish journalist Jankowski glamorously build Karski, a Catholic Pole, into a hero by circumstance. The 25-year-old Karski, an aspiring diplomat and a lieutenant in the Polish Army, was traveling by train in his native land when the Blitzkrieg hit. Abandoning his boxcar, Karski wandered eastward until he literally bumped into Soviet forces, who captured and imprisoned him. From then on, the text recounts one exciting escapade after another during Karski's years of service as a secret agent for the Polish underground. As a chronological and factual account, this has many problems. Karski—on whose oral reminiscences the book is largely based—is the most fortunate of heroes, always one step ahead of the enemy, who is sometimes the Soviets and sometimes the Germans. (The Allied governments, which did not comprehend the dire straits of wartime Poland, come across almost as badly.) As it recounts Karski's diplomatic struggles to aid the Polish underground and to inform VIPs about the plight of Polish Jewry, the book offers little hard data, detail, or additional sources to substantiate his own account of his actions. The authors additionally fail to analyze any of the highly significant events in which Karski participated (including his role in smuggling out of Poland reports of the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto). They portray Karski in broad strokes as a superhero: a man with unswerving goals, nerves of steel, and no apparent personal needs; a diehard diplomat in moral conflict with everyone but himself. It must be admitted, though, that their oversimplified saga is a real page-turner, with drama woven into every scene and an abundance of enjoyable anecdotes. Shallow, but exciting all the same. (8 pages of photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1994
ISBN: 0-471-01856-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
Far from compelling.
A disjointed memoir of a descent into mental illness and an eventual return and emergence as a professor of literature.
Hebald (Three Blind Mice, 1989) here maps out her journey through a variety of mental institutions in her quest for a cure to her suicidal tendencies and general misery. Not surprisingly, it stems from her childhood: abusive mother and sister, incestuous father, complete inability to focus her thoughts in school, encounters with licentious male patrons at the movie theater. Isolated by a lack of social skills, the author conceived a passion for drama and through a combination of talent and force of will got herself into the highly coveted acting classes of Uta Hagen and others. She also acquired a number of older lovers and a series of psychiatrists who prescribed a bewildering variety of drugs for her condition, sometimes diagnosed as schizophrenia. She repeatedly attempted to kill herself, was hospitalized, was misunderstood by her therapists, and finally liberated herself from the treatment cycle when she tossed her medications into the sea. It’s easy to understand the author’s frustration with her doctors. Some urged her to get married (“Mating is an instinct,” one told her), while others advised her to stop acting and get a secretarial job. Nonetheless, despite her wretched tale, our protagonist engenders little sympathy in the reader. Her story is disjointed, her dialogue stilted, and her tone querulous. Hebald should obviously be the star of her own autobiography, but in this case she has crowded every other player off the stage. Her mother and sister, key figures in a turbulent childhood, are mere sketches. Lovers, doctors, and other patients flash by. When one psychiatrist infuriates Hebald by telling her “You’re too intense,” many readers will nod in sympathy—with the doctor.
Far from compelling.Pub Date: May 23, 2001
ISBN: 1-55553-482-1
Page Count: 252
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2001
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