An illuminating look at the impact of a life-changing diagnosis.
A retired engineer recounts a traumatic brain injury.
In this memoir, Barry recalls enjoying a healthy, active life. As president of a research and development engineering firm, the 51-year-old executive was professionally fulfilled but also looking forward to retirement: shuttling between his New England home and his lakeside cottage; enjoying boating; spending time with his adult son and stepchildren; and taking more bike trips with his beloved wife, a schoolteacher. Then one day in 2012, everything changed. While on a bicycle trip in Vermont, the author experienced a bad fall that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. After numerous medical procedures, including a tracheostomy and the installation of a feeding tube as well as a monthslong stint in rehab, Barry sought to rebuild a life altered in every way possible. Because their vacation house was virtually inaccessible to the author, who used a wheelchair, he and his wife determined that they must give it up. Barry could no longer drive due to weakened vision, and though he returned to work in a limited capacity, he soon retired earlier than planned. But thanks to love, faith, and good fortune, he was able to continue bicycling and racing—using various recumbent tricycles—and do many things independently, such as making his way around his home while his wife was at work and communicating via email. He also rediscovered a passion for writing and decided to share his journey with readers. This short but informative memoir, which features family photographs, showcases the author’s straightforward voice and copious self-awareness. Despite the significant obstacles that came with a TBI, Barry recognized how lucky he had been throughout the ordeal—beginning with the passersby who came upon him immediately after he was injured and called for help. The book’s first half is a play-by-play of the author’s various procedures and therapies as he adjusted to a new way of existing, and the second half is devoted to larger topics, like Barry’s strong Roman Catholic faith, his “day in the life” routines and mobility aids, and his hobbies, such as baking bread and entertaining at home.
An illuminating look at the impact of a life-changing diagnosis.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9781578691227
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Rootstock Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.
The late heavy metal legend considers his mortality in this posthumous memoir.
“I ain’t ready to go anywhere,” writes Osbourne in the opening pages of his new memoir. “It’s good being alive. I like it. I want to be here with my family.” Given the context—Osbourne died on July 22, 2025, two weeks after the publisher announced the news of this book—it’s undeniably sad. But the rest of the text sees the Black Sabbath singer confronting the health struggles of his last years with dark humor and something approaching grace. The memoir begins in 2018; he wrote an earlier one, I Am Ozzy, in 2010. He tells of a staph infection he suffered that proved to be the start of a long, painful battle with various illnesses—soon after, he contracted a flu, which morphed into pneumonia. A spinal injury caused by a fall followed, causing him to undergo a series of surgeries and leaving him struggling with intense pain. And then there was his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, the treatment of which was complicated by his longtime struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. Osbourne peppers the chronicle of his final years with anecdotes from his past, growing up in Birmingham, England, and playing with—and then being fired from—Black Sabbath, and some of his most well-known antics (yes, he does address biting the heads off of a dove and a bat). He writes candidly and regretfully about the time he viciously attacked his wife, Sharon—the book is in many ways a love letter to her and his children. The memoir showcases Osbourne’s wit and charm; it’s rambling and disorganized, but so was he. It functions as both a farewell and a confession, and fans will likely find much to admire in this account. “Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years, louder and louder,” he writes. “And at some point, I’m gonna have to let him in.”
A charming and often poignant valediction from rock ’n’ roll’s Prince of Darkness.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781538775417
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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