Though not really much more than a commonplace book of the author’s personal fascinations, many readers will dip into this...
Bestselling novelist Godwin (Evensong, 1999, etc.) stitches an intimate sampler of the ways we humans have imagined acts of the heart through time and across cultures.
The heart works in strange and curious ways—“heart acts are often improvisational detours from point-to-point plans”—Godwin observes, but she is most interested in a kind of heart-knowledge “based on feeling values, relationship, personal courage, intimations of the ineffable, a passion for transcendence.” The author focuses here on a selection of cultural heart acts that have moved her and made her more alive, more worthy, from the prehistoric cave painter who gave life to a wooly mammoth by adding a heart to the epic of Gilgamesh, “the story of one human heart living fully in its time, finally conceding its human limits.” She examines the Hebrew heart that feels shame when it deviates from walking with God and St. Augustine’s Confessions, in which “the heart is pure protean marvel.” She deplores the horrible theft of the heart’s poetic associations by the Industrial Revolution and the rise of empiricism, which see the individual human as “a cog in the almighty economic machine.” Godwin takes light-footed tours through such literary themes as heartbreak, heartlessness, change of heart, and the heart of darkness: the “journey into a darkness that might poison or dry up this precious wellspring—or deepen and enlarge it if you come through.” She lauds the hospitality of the heart, “a special kind of imagination that concentrates on how another creature might be feeling,” one of those essential rhythms to which the caring heart is tuned. She also provides numerous personal stories to give her survey an anecdotal warmth and clarity.
Though not really much more than a commonplace book of the author’s personal fascinations, many readers will dip into this appealing grab-bag with pleasure and sometimes surprise.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-380-97795-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2000
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
