A readable and in-depth look at how sins of the past can live on, and how one can confront them.
A study of how emotional dysfunction can take on a generational aspect.
“If we really want to respect the generations gone by,” writes licensed counselorBirkemeier in this work of nonfiction that melds genealogy and personal psychology, “we must learn from them, and if possible, grow beyond them.” In a long process of “dismantling the dysfunction” of her past, the author sought to untangle the effects of lies and distortions; for example, she found out only later in life that her mother gave her up for adoption, took her back, and then gave her up for adoption a second time. She also notes that her memories contain gaps because she may have been “drunk, high or maybe both my entire high school career.” She gradually adopted a mantra that would guide her later research: “Breaking cycles. Slaying shame. Finding freedom.” In these pages, Birkemeier looks back at her own family tree—specifically, at ancestors’ toxic behaviors and how their stories carry into later generations, allowing “layers of dysfunction to grow.” The author breaks these lessons into small segments and follows each with a moment for reader reflection that begins with the greeting “Dear Friend” (“it is here we should pause and discuss something important”). Birkemeier employs a fast-paced and engagingly straightforward style as she tells stories from her childhood and young adulthood, and this creates a low-stress atmosphere that’s welcoming to readers dealing with difficult family memories. The author also frequently explains biochemical aspects of trauma, noting, as when she notes that the hyperstimulation of the amygdala can leave it permanently “in the ‘on’ position,” causing one to sense danger everywhere; these give her personal reflections even greater heft. The end result is an intriguing study of the legacy of emotional baggage, ultimately cast in a tone of optimism: “You don’t know what you don’t know until you know it,” she writes. “Then, when you know, you must do something with it.”
A readable and in-depth look at how sins of the past can live on, and how one can confront them.Pub Date: March 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-295452-6
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Out Loud Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.
A principled athlete strives for social justice.
Kaepernick forthrightly details the activism that earned him global renown but cost him his NFL career. In 2016, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback “was filled with disgust” after police shootings of fellow Black men in several American cities. Before a preseason game, he made a spontaneous decision: “It hit me in that moment that I should find a seat” during the national anthem. He did the same at two more games before reporters noticed. Kaepernick will forever be associated with “taking a knee” during the anthem, but he credits Eric Reid—a teammate who agreed with Kaepernick’s message—for suggesting that they kneel together during subsequent anthems. The protest changed everything for Kaepernick. President Trump vilified him. Kaepernick and his wife received death threats. And though he’d taken the 49ers to a Super Bowl, no teams would sign him. He will likely make news for his take on Jay-Z, whose lucrative partnership with the NFL was criticized as an attempt to launder the league’s reputation. Visiting Africa, where Kaepernick learns about “African leaders who willingly sold their own people to the enslavers,” he “couldn’t help but to think about Jay-Z and the NFL.” In opening chapters, Kaepernick recalls suffering traumatic racial abuse as a child. Being in “white spaces”—he was adopted by white parents—placed him “under a microscope every minute of every day.” He isn’t always nuanced, depicting some people he disagrees with as cartoonishly clueless. But his writing about how college and pro teams “lied” to him about injuries underlines his “feeling of being a disposable commodity.” A decade has passed since Kaepernick played in the NFL, but he stays fit in case “a team needing a QB” calls.
A football star’s bracing account of his battle for racial equality—and how powerful forces arrayed against him.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781538777879
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Legacy Lit/Hachette
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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