Black shows promising analytical skills for a young writer, but his book would have benefited from more emotionally...
In this short debut memoir of his first 30 years, Black candidly recounts his turbulent experiences as a young man learning to live with bipolar disorder.
As a child, the author lived in a perpetual state of transience. He painfully recalls being passed off by his drug-addicted mother to live with his caring but sometimes incompetent grandparents. School brought further trauma, as teachers, unable to deal with his particular temperaments, passed him off to the special needs class, despite his intellectual capacity. His outbursts would result in psychiatric hospitalizations, which he alternatively regarded as punishments or welcome vacations. Black shows great insight in explaining how his difficult experiences at home and school contributed to his trouble behaving in a socially appropriate manner. In other areas, however, this memoir is less sharp. The descriptions of women come from a distinctly male perspective, as they go into great detail about the physical attributes of everyone from young coeds to the author’s psychiatrist, about whom he writes, “Her jeans tugged tightly around her healthy legs, and a loosely buttoned shirt exposed perky brown cleavage.” Readers should also beware that these candid youthful recollections feature a brief incestuous relationship with a cousin, and some time the author spent sporting “Confederate shirts.” Black also writes about a torrid relationship that ended in domestic violence charges against him. At times, the narrative reads a bit like a school essay, with sentence openers such as “Needless to say…” However, as he’s a self-described “millennial,” Black’s story still has a way to go. His burgeoning introspection shows again in the final pages, and he offers valuable insights and very tangible advice to others living with bipolar disorder.
Black shows promising analytical skills for a young writer, but his book would have benefited from more emotionally revealing moments, and fewer objectifying descriptions of women.Pub Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Bipolar Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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