as much depth as Denver's songs. (6 photos)
Shallow survey of the sandy-haired pop singer whose airy nature-loving ballads hid a darker life of drunkenness, emotional
turmoil, and spousal violence. In his introduction, British music journalist Collis (Van Morrison: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, not reviewed) confesses that he has "always harboured some reservations" about Denver's music, and later dismisses such chart-topping hits as "Sunshine on My Shoulders" as "irredeemably banal." Born Henry J. Deutschendorf Jr. in Roswell, New Mexico, on New Year's Eve 1943, the future pop star chafed against the severity of domestic life with his father, an Air Force pilot whose frequent postings took his family all over the world but gave the youngster a feeling of homelessness. At the age of 13, Henry Jr. received his first guitar (from his grandmother) and five years later left home for Los Angeles to become a folk singer. After some false starts, he became a fixture in the folk clubs, where he changed his name and eventually joined the Chad Mitchell Trio. His "Leaving on a Jet Plane" became a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary. He was later signed to RCA as a solo act and—thanks to a likable stage presence, a songbook promoting nature appreciation over drugs, and several cleverly placed TV appearances—Denver became an international star in the 1970s, while secretly indulging in drugs, booze, and violent acts (some involving chainsaws) against his wife. After co-starring with the Muppets and George Burns in movies, Denver championed environmental issues and EST founder Werner Erhard's ill-fated Hunger Project. He was in the midst of a comeback when he died in 1997 while flying an experimental airplane off the California coast. Because Collis has relied almost exclusively on published sources and has done comparatively little original research, he falls back too heavily upon speculation about Denver's hidden personality and private demons. As a biography, this book has about
as much depth as Denver's songs. (6 photos)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-84018-124-9
Page Count: 190
Publisher: Mainstream/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2000
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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