An empathetic and knowledgeable recovery manual.
A comprehensive self-help guide for women and girls dealing with the trauma of assault.
This nonfiction debut from DeBellis, the founding director of the aRIFT+ Warrior Project, emphasizes survival tactics for young women and girls who are facing mental or physical abuse, including sexual assault. The author stresses that young women and girls, as a demographic, face the vast majority of such violence: Nearly 2 million minors have experienced sexual assault, says DeBellis, quoting a CBS News story, and 82 percent of those victims are female. The author herself is a survivor of such violence, which informs her insights and recommendations to readers. She touches on many of the effects of assault, including emotional pain, shame, and guilt, as well as many aspects of recovery, including psychological coping mechanisms that focus on straightforward truths: “Regardless of what your brain says you could or should have done differently,” she writes at one such point, “your attacker is wholly responsible for your assault. Period.” This recurring element of blunt practicality extends to the author’s advice on such things as seeking legal responses to assault; she advises that readers should, at all times, “seek justice not revenge.” DeBellis, who also edits Pink Panther Magazine, provides readers with tough, knowing support throughout this remarkably wide-ranging guide, and although the facts and statistics she relays are grim, she very effectively balances this with compassion and optimism: “Don’t give up all hope for humanity yet,” she writes, asking readers to remember that they are not alone. She also provides extensive contact information and helpful resources for recovery, and the consistent tone of hard-won personal experience is welcome. Overall, it’s a brief volume that assault survivors are sure to find invaluable.
An empathetic and knowledgeable recovery manual.Pub Date: Nov. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-956769-03-6
Page Count: 137
Publisher: Library Tales Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.
The veteran newscaster reflects on her triumphs and hardships, both professional and private.
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Couric (b. 1957) transforms the events of her long, illustrious career into an immensely readable story—a legacy-preserving exercise, for sure, yet judiciously polished and insightful, several notches above the fray of typical celebrity memoirs. The narrative unfolds through a series of lean chapters as she recounts the many career ascendency steps that led to her massively successful run on the Today Show and comparably disappointing stints as CBS Evening News anchor, talk show host, and Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. On the personal front, the author is candid in her recollections about her midlife adventures in the dating scene and deeply sorrowful and affecting regarding the experience of losing her husband to colon cancer as well as the deaths of other beloved family members, including her sister and parents. Throughout, Couric maintains a sharp yet cool-headed perspective on the broadcast news industry and its many outsized personalities and even how her celebrated role has diminished in recent years. “It’s AN ADJUSTMENT when the white-hot spotlight moves on,” she writes. “The ego gratification of being the It girl is intoxicating (toxic being the root of the word). When that starts to fade, it takes some getting used to—at least it did for me.” Readers who can recall when network news coverage and morning shows were not only relevant, but powerfully influential forces will be particularly drawn to Couric’s insights as she tracks how the media has evolved over recent decades and reflects on the negative effects of the increasing shift away from reliable sources of informed news coverage. The author also discusses recent important cultural and social revolutions, casting light on issues of race and sexual orientation, sexism, and the predatory behavior that led to the #MeToo movement. In that vein, she expresses her disillusionment with former co-host and friend Matt Lauer.
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53586-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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