A magnetic collection of real stories that sheds a new light on life in the Midwest.
An aspiring creative struggles with his identity.
In his second memoir, Poole (Where’s My Wand?: One Boy’s Magical Triumph over Alienation and Shag Carpeting, 2010) describes the hardships he faced as a Christian teenager living in suburban St. Louis. Both self-conscious and feeling like an outsider, the author did not fit into the standard idea of a straight male high school experience. A talented trumpet player, Poole begins his memoir by recounting his disastrous first sexual encounter with a girl, a memorably recounted event that occurred at an illicit, alcohol-drenched party he had to bribe his way into. In this Donna Summer–infused world, the author and his adolescent cohorts were being tested by the changing sociocultural environment. Confident that he was destined to become a star, Poole made it through high school and college with a few hiccups and countless girlfriends. But nothing really seemed to stick—until he met Kurt, a gay man with whom he formed a meaningful connection. Kurt was convinced Poole was gay and openly shared his opinions as often as possible. The author traces his journey through his confusing adolescence and professional forays in travel and advertising agencies, maps out the gay scene in 1980s St. Louis, and provides crucial insight on the difficulties of coming out within an intolerant societal infrastructure as well as a religious family. Refreshingly, this is not a traditional coming-out story. While many such memoirs capitalize on the author’s sexuality, Poole instead focuses on the creation of his entire identity. Sex is merely a component, not a defining factor. Punctuated with highly effective humor, this book could easily serve as a resource for any closeted individuals looking to read another success story.
A magnetic collection of real stories that sheds a new light on life in the Midwest.Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-948122-04-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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