The singular battle of an autistic woman to connect with ``out there''—the world and the people outside her frightened self. From birth, autistics exhibit, among other symptoms, extreme lack of emotional response, repetitive behavior, and speech that mirrors what is being said to them. The symptoms mask what is often average or above-average intelligence, a conflict leading to rage, destructive behavior, and often, in children, to institutionalization. Williams believes that she was able to emerge from her autistic fortress in large part because of—ironically— her abusive mother. As a little girl, she warded off her mother's physical and verbal blows by assuming personalities that were acceptable to the outside world. Although her emotional core remained untouched most of the time, the need to act ``normal'' prevented her from totally retreating into a world where ``gentleness, kindness and affection'' had no part. Williams's role-playing helped her to get through school, including college, to get jobs and lovers, and finally to accept and give—on a limited basis—affection in her own person, as Donna. Fragmented and emotionally distant (``Welcome to my world,'' says Williams), the author's story offers insight into the autistic experience. The last chapters address specifically why typical autistic behavior, such as switching lights on and off, is comforting. How to deal with autistics? Through psychological warfare, Williams says, though that warfare must be waged with patience and a plan. A recounting of an amazing struggle that will help the frustrated parents, teachers, and clinicians understand more clearly what those unresponsive ``dead eyes'' see. A worthy complement to Judy and Sean Barron's There's a Boy in Here (p. 83). (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-8129-2042-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Times/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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