A powerful, informative cautionary tale and love letter from a father to a son.
A father grieves the loss of his son to addiction in this memoir and guidebook for parents.
Stewart writes that, shortly after the death of his son, Joshua, “[he] blamed [him]self for not having noticed the signs he was moving toward addiction…[he] missed the subtle messages—the longing, the loneliness, the desperation.” In this raw memoir, the author aims to impart advice from his own experiences to other parents like himself—parents who deeply love their children but are often overwhelmed in their own busy lives, or who are the parents of adult children with whom they’ve lost a connection. Poignantly, Stewart discusses his belief that his own tendencies toward codependency made him “of little use to [Joshua] or [his] other children.” While sharing Joshua’s story, which includes an early marriage and divorce before the young man even finished college, the author also provides practical tips for recognizing the ways in which addiction first develops and steps to take once the problem is identified. (An entire chapter is devoted to a data-informed commentary on manageable steps to improve the mental health opportunities offered by rehab facilities.) Beyond its warnings to other parents about the signs associated with addiction, the book is also a celebration of Joshua’s life and the happiness he brought to his loved ones despite his inner demons. The text includes original poetry written by Joshua and chapters reflecting on Joshua’s loving spirit written by his sister and children, among others. “You were my hero and best friend as a little girl,” his daughter writes in a tribute; “my sunrise and my joy at the start of every day.” The book’s title refers to a line tattooed on Joshua’s arm that reflected his love of pirate history and his laidback, go-with-the-flow approach to life. The author’s intimate prose is accompanied by a wealth of family photos that reflect the book’s deeply personal approach. While Stewart emphasizes that he is “not writing this work from an expert’s point of view,” the work includes a multipage set of references.
A powerful, informative cautionary tale and love letter from a father to a son.Pub Date: April 9, 2025
ISBN: 9781038316721
Page Count: 188
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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