A highly readable and sagacious account of overcoming obstacles and building success.
A successful businessman decides to sell his company and discovers that he has cancer in this debut memoir by McIntyre.
The author was planning to turn over the sales and marketing business he had built over 30 years when he noticed a lump on the side of his neck. He was told that it was probably a clogged saliva gland and prescribed antibiotics. Thinking little of it, he boarded a plane in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, to meet with a potential buyer in Baltimore. The transaction progressed quickly after his visit to Maryland, but the lump swelled to the size of an orange. Following investigatory surgery in 2010, McIntyre learned that he had cancer at the base of his tongue that had spread to the tonsillar glandular area in his left throat. He was told the prognosis was “good,” which, as a dedicated businessman, led him to consider which should come first: the sale of his business or his cancer treatment. The author tells the story of both major life events simultaneously. The memoir recounts how McIntyre made his name in the foodservice industry working for RJR Foods in Winston-Salem, where he was in charge of sales for half the country, before relocating to Charlotte in 1979 and setting up his own company. The resultant food-service sales and marketing agency, McIntyreSales, grew to represent the likes of Nestlé and Smucker’s. The author reveals how his battle with cancer and letting go of the business changed him over the course of what turned out to be a profoundly spiritual journey. He also discusses his efforts to help others, such as his work with the homeless and destitute in both Charlotte and El Salvador.
In the opening to his memoir, McIntyre writes, “I’ve never done anything remarkable, nothing different from what you would have done if you were me.” This sense of humility, which is present throughout, makes the author’s story approachable and appealing. The author never crows about his successes, either in business or his battle against cancer; instead, he is eager to use his experiences to advise others. His go-getter assertiveness naturally shines through at times: Regarding an occasion in which he turned up at his doctor’s office without an appointment when the lump did not improve, he writes plainly, “Because sometimes you don’t call, you go.” This polite pushiness should inspire others to be proactive about their health care when they believe something is gravely wrong. McIntyre’s writing also has a quietly meditative quality, charged with warmth and wisdom: “I knew I was simply one of the billions of people on earth, connected to this place, to Joyce and my family. I was complete. I didn’t need to do anything but be in this moment.” Reading the text feels similar to sitting down with a wise old friend—one who will offer business advice but also encouragement to see the bigger picture. The author’s business successes are compelling and his cancer struggle is courageous, but what truly makes this memoir stand out are the memorable nuggets of wisdom that McIntyre imparts: Recognizing opportunities for growth even in the most difficult of circumstances, McIntyre writes, “It’s hard times that shape people and companies.”
A highly readable and sagacious account of overcoming obstacles and building success.Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781088082805
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Tall Clover Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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
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