by Emily Samuelson ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
A deeply humanist portrait of healing and freedom.
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A horrible secret results in an examination of childhood sexual assault.
After a chaotic year, Samuelson unearthed a terrible memory: Her father had sexually assaulted her. In her debut book, she recalls grappling with this new discovery at night: “Then I’d get up a couple of hours later and be a therapist—for sexually abused children.” It’s a cruel irony, but going through the healing process while treating abused kids allowed the author to provide keen insights into the psyche, lending a human touch to the hard work of recovering from abuse. “In a brilliant effort to protect us, our minds shove the intolerable truth so far back in that mental closet that we don’t even remember we were abused,” she writes, explaining dissociation. “But, like all closets, there is a small crack under the door that lets stuff leak out.” This work is essentially a collection of interviews. Samuelson compiles accounts of fellow survivors in an as-told-to format. Her diverse subjects vary in age, gender, and sexual orientation, all furthering a nuanced conversation on incest, which is often fraught with political connotations. “Black people don’t do those kinds of things,” one woman asserts, recalling a popular attitude. The myths that society pushes, Samuelson argues, are exactly why a book like this needs to exist, making it easier to come forward and tear down the assumption that survivors’ lives must be solely defined by childhood trauma. She is careful to frame each interview within a larger context of processing abuse, interspersing chapters with vivid observations and experiences of her own. She talks about the power shame wields over survivors, the importance of boundaries, and the problem of extreme self-doubt, deftly bringing the issues from abstraction to reality by using her own life as an example. That’s a triumph of the book, and one driven home by the author’s vibrant photography. All of the interviewees’ accounts are accompanied by portraits, their looks of joy and determination emphasizing just how much Samuelson’s subjects have achieved.
A deeply humanist portrait of healing and freedom.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-692-92523-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Otter Bay Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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