Serious travel readers will appreciate Simson’s gentle, evenhanded presentation of a colorful, multifaceted culture.
Simson (The God that Says I Am, 2010) intertwines a well-documented travel memoir with geography, history and culture.
When biologist Simson was offered a contract to teach on American military bases in South Korea via the University of Maryland University College Overseas Division, she was excited to explore a culture much different than that of her hometown of Charleston, S.C. The end result is this compelling narrative in which Simson compares her modern-day experiences in South Korea to those of Victorian travel writer Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop. Both women were 63 when they began their journeys—Bishop in 1894, Simson in 1999—and though Bishop traveled with the aid of missionaries and Simson’s two-year stint involved navigating confusing streets in used cars, both women went home with a deep admiration for many of the people they met along the way. While Simson presents a condensed history of Korea’s troubled past and a vivid account of her trip to the Demilitarized Zone, she also offers many glimpses of her day-to-day life in places like Songtan and Taegu, including descriptions of Korean food such as a delicious pajeon (onion pancake). Of course, some culture shock is to be expected, and Simson describes the difficulties she encountered with the Korean language and weather-related problems, like the time her car broke down in a monsoon. The author writes that though neither she nor Bishop was fond of large Korean cities, they both reveled in the magnificent beauty of the countryside and mountains. (Generations ago, Bishop was able to explore the Diamond Mountains, now part of North Korea.) As in any culture, there are paradoxes, and Simson portrays them with a nonjudgmental but honest voice; for instance, the same people who drove recklessly and always seemed to be in a hurry were also industrious and quick to help her. Likewise, the same culture in which she saw women mistreated also held a deep reverence for its elders. Various religious influences—nature worship, shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity—are also briefly discussed with notable objectivity.
Serious travel readers will appreciate Simson’s gentle, evenhanded presentation of a colorful, multifaceted culture.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4582-1037-1
Page Count: 198
Publisher: AbbottPress
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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