A lyrical, tender linguistic balm.
A critically acclaimed poet and recording artist reflects on the relationship between creativity and human connection.
In a book that Tempest wrote in response to a publisher's request for "a work of non-fiction for a series of short pamphlets,” they avoid political statements about connection in a divided world and focus instead on “how immersion in creativity can bring us closer to each other and help us cultivate greater self-awareness.” Drawing on 20 years of experience as a spoken word artist, author Tempest titles each essay to reflect a component or element of a spoken word or musical performance. In "Set Up," they suggest that creativity in all domains of life allows individuals to "access and feel connection [with]” everything from ideas and emotions to other individuals. Disconnection, which Tempest discusses in "Sound Check,” arises from a "numbness" that serves as "a logical response" to the onslaught of modern life. In "Doors," the author describes their own creative journey and reveals how poetry became the avenue for connection with others, including a homeless man who forced Tempest to look past their own prejudices and cultivate a deeper understanding of the inequities of life and chance. In later sections, the author reflects on performance. In "Going Out There," for example, they suggest how social media has transformed performance art into a mindless act done for approval rather than communion. “Anything we think, feel, witness, imagine or partake in becomes ammunition for the next pithy tweet, political statement, glamorous image or sarcastic caption,” writes the author. For Tempest, connection only comes about through conscious artistic effort, and when it happens, it brings together performer and spectator "in a communal feeling that takes the whole room or none of us.” With its emphasis on empathy and the importance of being present, this slender book, which will appeal mostly to readers with an interest in mindfulness, is a welcome tonic to the fractured dissonance of modern life.
A lyrical, tender linguistic balm.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-571-35402-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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