One for the fans.
She got famous. She got rich. She got cancelled. She's sorry…sort of.
"I guess you could say that delusions of grandeur are my superpower," writes Oshry, a 26-year-old Instagram influencer whose feed, @girlwithnojob, has 3 million followers, apparently enough to put this silly memoir on the New York Times bestseller list. The author begins with her Long Island childhood as the third of three sisters, one of whom, Jackie, has been a partner in her social media endeavors, especially their podcast and YouTube show, The Morning Toast. “There’s never a question as to whether one of my sisters will betray my trust or not look out for my best interest,” she writes. “Caroline Manzo said it best, ‘blood is thicker than water,’ and my relationship with my sisters is a testament to that. Our bond is tighter and more secure than Kim Zolciak’s wig, though that’s not saying much.” (If you don’t recognize either of those names, this book isn’t for you.) Oshry discusses her experiences at “fat camp,” her father's tragic, sudden death at age 52 ("BAM! My dad decided to drop dead. Very, very uncool of him"), the institution and monetization of her social media presence while an undergrad at NYU, her whirlwind marriage at age 23, and her "FUPA" (Fat Upper Pubic Area). The author waits until the end of the book to address her “cancellation” in 2018—but if you don't already know what happened, you will only find out here that it has something to do with her mother (president of the group Stop Islamization of America) and regrettable tweets from years ago. Instead of details or reflection, Oshry delivers countless platitudes: "We're all deserving of the opportunity to grow and the grace of second chances”; “Never forget that you can forge your own path and use your own voice in whatever way you want.”
One for the fans.Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982142-86-5
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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