An appealing literary memoir.
A poet's reflections on memorable individuals.
In deft, graceful essays, poet, literary critic, and librettist Gioia recalls six “people of potent personality” who shaped his vocation: Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Fitzgerald, who taught him as a graduate student at Harvard; John Cheever, whom Gioia met at Stanford, where he was studying business; writer James Dickey; Ronald Perry, a little-known poet whom Gioia never met; and the author’s Mexican uncle, who died when Gioia was a child and whose library of books, stored in Gioia’s family’s apartment, inspired his reading and his aspiration to be a writer. No one among his relatives or teachers, he reveals, “ever encouraged my reading or intellectual pursuits,” but he was encouraged by his uncle’s presence, felt through the books he left. The author pursued his literary ambitions at Harvard, where two professors stood out: the “prim, impeccably coiffured” Bishop, the “most self-effacing writer I have ever met”; and Fitzgerald, whose “many strengths harmonized so naturally that one simply enjoyed the music of his company. Being with him, I understood for the first time how legendary pilgrims recognized their next master.” Both contrasted favorably with their celebrated, hugely popular colleague Robert Lowell. Gioia preferred Bishop’s and Fitzgerald’s modesty and humility, qualities he found in Cheever, too, who had come to Stanford on a campus visit with his son. Cheever seemed to Gioia “more bright young man than sagacious patriarch,” and his “intelligence was enlivening.” An unfortunate meeting with Dickey came after Gioia published a negative review of one of his books: “It is often better not to meet the writers you admire.” Gioia’s connection with Perry also came from reviewing; Perry wrote to thank him for an appreciative review, and the two continued to correspond, planning to meet, finally, in New York. Gioia’s portrait of this “invisible poet” and their role in one another’s lives serves as a moving elegy.
An appealing literary memoir.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-58988-151-8
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Paul Dry Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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