A poetic, nuanced tribute to the power of music and family.
In this memoir, a cellist explores her immigrant parents’ past as Holocaust survivors.
Growing up in a Jewish family in her birthplace of Toronto, Canada, Janet Horvath was told she was given her first name because it was “intentionally English, not Hungarian, and not Jewish.” Though her parents always welcomed her friends with warm hospitality, they largely kept to themselves and were reluctant to discuss what they endured during World War II. After Janet married, she had a son and moved to the United States to work as a professional cellist like her father. She frequently visited her elderly parents, especially after her mother suffered a stroke, and made a major discovery: In 1948, her dad played in an orchestra of Holocaust survivors in Landsberg, Germany, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Janet began a deep dive into her parents’ journey from their native Hungary, where they met studying music at Budapest’s Liszt Academy; the night before Janet’s father was sent to a Nazi labor camp in 1944, her parents married young so her mother wouldn’t be deported. Meanwhile, Janet reckoned with a mysterious ear injury that threatened to end her relationship with the cello—her father’s legacy. Horvath’s memoir thoroughly explores the complicated aftermath of the Holocaust, when those who survived Nazi occupation and concentration camps were displaced persons, reliant on the kindness of friends, relatives, and strangers—and many, like Janet’s parents, were forced to temporarily relocate to Germany. Horvath’s prose is lyrical (“Consider a time when hell was on earth, when hands accustomed to a musician’s bow, a writer’s pen, a doctor’s scalpel, a painter’s brush, a tailor’s needle, wielded shovelfuls of rocks, limestone, or human remains”) and brutally honest as she explores how trauma leads to complex dynamics; Janet’s father and brother were often estranged, and Janet frequently found herself torn between her life in Minnesota and her parents, who were slowly but surely fading away. In a world in which antisemitism is on the rise, Horvath’s story—equal parts disturbing and inspiring—is necessary and timely reading.
A poetic, nuanced tribute to the power of music and family.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2023
ISBN: 9789493276819
Page Count: 412
Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dillard’s story reflects maturity and understanding from someone who was forced to mature and understand too much too soon.
A measured memoir from a daughter of the famous family.
Growing up in the Institute of Basic Life Principles community, which she came to realize was “a cult, thriving on a culture of fear and manipulation,” Duggar and her 18 siblings were raised never to question parental authority. As the author recalls, she felt no need to, describing the loving home of her girlhood. When a documentary crew approached her father, Jim Bob, and proposed first a series of TV specials that would be called 17 Kids and Counting (later 18 and 19 Kids and Counting), he agreed, telling his family that this was a chance to share their conservative Christian faith. It was also a chance to become wealthy, but Jill, who was dedicated to following the rules, didn’t question where the money went. A key to her falling out with her family was orchestrated by Jim Bob, who introduced her to missionary Derick Dillard. Their wedding was one of the most-watched episodes of the series. Even though she was an adult, Jill’s parents and the show continued to expect more of the young couple. When they attempted to say no to filming some aspects of their lives, Jill discovered that a sheet of paper her father asked her to sign the day before her wedding was part of a contract in which she had unwittingly agreed to full cooperation. Writing about her sex offender brother, Josh, and the legal action she and Derick had to take to get their questions answered, Jill describes how she was finally able—through therapy, prayer, and the establishment of boundaries—to reconcile love for her parents with Jim Bob’s deception and reframe her faith outside the IBLP.
Dillard’s story reflects maturity and understanding from someone who was forced to mature and understand too much too soon.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781668024447
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: today
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
© Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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