A moving account of a remarkable young man and his supportive family battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Herrera’s memoir chronicles living with a child’s terminal illness.
Born in 1969 in Butte, Montana, the author was the youngest of five children in a close family, including two brothers who were diagnosed with Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which is caused by recessive genes (muscular dystrophy is the umbrella term for a variety of neuromuscular diseases). When her son, Riley, was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) at age 4 in 1995, Herrera drew on her parents’ example to seek the best treatments, advocate for his rights, and still maintain “a safe, happy, nurtured, and respected environment for our family.” Unlike SMA, Riley’s DMD was caused by a spontaneous genetic mutation. The prognosis was dire; the author was initially told he would be dead by age 17. Tirelessly searching for experts and support, Herrera and her husband Ron connected with Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), an organization devoted to research and support for families affected by DMD. At age 14, Riley’s heart (which is a muscle) was attacked by “The Beast,” their nickname for DMD. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital accepted him for a heart transplant, which he received on March 30, 2007. Riley exceeded all expectations, graduating high school and college and living fully until DMD claimed his life at age 31. Herrera vividly portrays a remarkable young man who powered through difficult times with “resilience, optimism, grace and dignity, strength and fortitude.” Her own recollections, combined with reflections of others involved in Riley’s life, effectively describe how fraught negotiating the evolving research and care protocols is, along with the importance and difficulty of keeping some level of normalcy in family life. The insights of the author’s brothers, especially about their experiences with SMA and their close connection with Riley, add depth and a multigenerational aspect to the memoir. While emphasizing the power of positivity, Herrera does not shy away from honestly confronting the heartbreaking aspects of life with a child who has a terminal disease, including many levels of loss.
A moving account of a remarkable young man and his supportive family battling Duchenne muscular dystrophy.Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2024
ISBN: 9798989664917
Page Count: 221
Publisher: Dianne's Consultant Services
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2024
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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