A detail-heavy, adoring portrait that may disorient non-Brazilian readers.
A hagiography of the current president of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva (b. 1945).
In April 2018, under the massive anti-corruption campaign called Operation Car Wash, waged by former federal judge Sergio Fernando Moro, “Lula” was given hours to turn himself in. Ultimately, he was imprisoned for 581 days—thus prohibited from running in that year’s presidential election, won by Jair Bolsonaro—before being released on November 8, 2019, following hacker revelations released by Intercept editor Glenn Greenwald proving that Moro’s allegations were false. After recounting this saga, Brazilian journalist Morais moves back in time to 1980, when Lula, then head of Metalworkers’ Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema, organized a strike and started the Workers’ Party. During this time of the military dictatorship, strike leaders were arrested and tried in court. The author then delves further back, to Lula’s poverty-stricken childhood; unhappy in her marriage, his mother moved with her children up the coast to São Paulo in 1955, when Lula was 10. Trained as a lathe mechanic, he worked at Villares Metals for nearly two decades, proud that he was the first of his mother’s sons to have a fruitful profession. Becoming gradually involved in union activities, Lula complained that there were too few working-class representatives in congress. Trounced as a candidate for state governor, in 1985, he visited Fidel Castro and was inspired to run for national assembly—and triumphed. “At the time,” Lula garnered “more votes than any parliamentary candidate had ever received in the history of Brazil.” After several attempts, he first won the presidency in 2002 and was reelected in 2006. In the epilogue, the author describes his relationship with Lula and promises a second volume. By then, many readers will have tired of this zealous biographical portrait.
A detail-heavy, adoring portrait that may disorient non-Brazilian readers.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781804294925
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Verso
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.
A carefully curated personal portrait.
First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781510782693
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
This is not an easy account to read, but it is important enough not to be forgotten.
A story of ordinary people, both victims and survivors, thrown into extraordinary history.
Pellegrino says his book is “simply the story of what happened to people and objects under the atomic bombs, and it is dedicated to the hope that no one will ever witness this, or die this way, again.” Images of Aug. 6, 1945, as reported by survivors, include the sight of a cart falling from the sky with the hindquarters of the horse pulling it still attached; a young boy who put his hands over his eyes as the bomb hit—and “saw the bones of his fingers shining through shut eyelids, just like an X-ray photograph”; “statue people” flash-fossilized and fixed in place, covered in a light snowfall of ashes; and, of course, the ghosts—people severely flash-burned on one side of their bodies, leaving shadows on a wall, the side of a building, or whatever stood nearby. The carnage continued for days, weeks, and years as victims of burns and those who developed various forms of cancer succumbed to their injuries: “People would continue to die in ways that people never imagined people could die.” Scattered in these survivor stories is another set of stories from those involved in the development and deployment of the only two atomic weapons ever used in warfare. The author also tells of the letter from Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard to Franklin D. Roosevelt that started the ball rolling toward the formation of the Manhattan Project and the crew conversations on the Enola Gay and the Bockscar, the planes that dropped the Little Boy on Hiroshima and the Fat Man on Nagasaki. We have to find a way to get along, one crew member said, “because we now have the wherewithal to destroy everything.”
This is not an easy account to read, but it is important enough not to be forgotten.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798228309890
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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