A skillfully written, thought-provoking account that positively reconsiders an antagonist as an important teacher.
A divorced woman’s perceptions of her controlling ex-husband shift radically when she establishes a new bond with him following his death in this debut memoir.
In 1985, Mickelwait returned to California after working as a tour guide in Rome. Setting up as a freelance marketing writer, she found her social life waning before meeting her future husband, an attorney named Steve, at a friend’s wedding. Described by others as looking like “an actor playing a politician,” Steve had plenty of charisma. The author gradually capitulated to his charms and they began dating. The couple went on to marry and have two children before cracks started to show in their relationship. Steve’s personality began to change. He became reliant on drugs for chronic back pain and started growing marijuana and collecting guns and knives. Mickelwait later discovered that Steve was having an affair with Mitzi, their close friend and realtor. Following the couple’s divorce, Steve was diagnosed with colon cancer and later died. The author was left to deal with her ex-husband’s $1.5 million debt because her name was still on the banks’ loan records. Mickelwait’s journey to forgiveness began after seeking spiritual guidance and reconnecting with Steve through a psychic. This is emotionally frank writing in which the author is unafraid to share even her darkest feelings, such as “I thought of all the times I’d wished Steve dead,” after learning of his cancer diagnosis. The memoir’s structure makes for compelling reading, beginning with Steve’s funeral, where, despite sharing 26 years together, Mickelwait admits her “eyes were dry.” The author then backtracks to recall the arc of their relationship, explaining the period of understanding and healing that occurred after his death. Mickelwait is also buoyantly descriptive in these pages. Recalling her “spiritual life coach,” she writes: “Like my own personal Yoda, Arjuna would sit cross-legged in the big striped chair and dispense pithy advice.” Skeptics will struggle to accept the fact that the author communicated with Steve after his death, and cynical readers may find her psychic’s conclusion that “everything he did to you, he did for you” difficult to swallow. Still, those who believe in parapsychology will enjoy this smartly conceived book that tracks a major shift in personal perspective made possible through spiritual counseling.
A skillfully written, thought-provoking account that positively reconsiders an antagonist as an important teacher.Pub Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64742-030-7
Page Count: 344
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.
The Chicago Bulls stalwart tells all—and then some.
Hall of Famer Pippen opens with a long complaint: Yes, he’s a legend, but he got short shrift in the ESPN documentary about Michael Jordan and the Bulls, The Last Dance. Given that Jordan emerges as someone not quite friend enough to qualify as a frenemy, even though teammates for many years, the maltreatment is understandable. This book, Pippen allows, is his retort to a man who “was determined to prove to the current generation of fans that he was larger-than-life during his day—and still larger than LeBron James, the player many consider his equal, if not superior.” Coming from a hardscrabble little town in Arkansas and playing for a small college, Pippen enjoyed an unlikely rise to NBA stardom. He played alongside and against some of the greats, of whom he writes appreciatively (even Jordan). Readers will gain insight into the lives of characters such as Dennis Rodman, who “possessed an unbelievable basketball IQ,” and into the behind-the-scenes work that led to the Bulls dynasty, which ended only because, Pippen charges, the team’s management was so inept. Looking back on his early years, Pippen advocates paying college athletes. “Don’t give me any of that holier-than-thou student-athlete nonsense,” he writes. “These young men—and women—are athletes first, not students, and make up the labor that generates fortunes for their schools. They are, for lack of a better term, slaves.” The author also writes evenhandedly of the world outside basketball: “No matter how many championships I have won, and millions I have earned, I never forget the color of my skin and that some people in this world hate me just because of that.” Overall, the memoir is closely observed and uncommonly modest, given Pippen’s many successes, and it moves as swiftly as a playoff game.
Basketball fans will enjoy Pippen’s bird’s-eye view of some of the sport’s greatest contests.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982165-19-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.
One of the best pitchers of his generation—and often the only Black man on his team—shares an extraordinary life in baseball.
A high school star in several sports, Sabathia was being furiously recruited by both colleges and professional teams when the death of his grandmother, whose Social Security checks supported the family, meant that he couldn't go to college even with a full scholarship. He recounts how he learned he had been drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the first round over the PA system at his high school. In 2001, after three seasons in the minor leagues, Sabathia became the youngest player in MLB (age 20). His career took off from there, and in 2008, he signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million, at the time the largest contract ever for a pitcher. With the help of Vanity Fair contributor Smith, Sabathia tells the entertaining story of his 19 seasons on and off the field. The first 14 ran in tandem with a poorly hidden alcohol problem and a propensity for destructive bar brawls. His high school sweetheart, Amber, who became his wife and the mother of his children, did her best to help him manage his repressed fury and grief about the deaths of two beloved cousins and his father, but Sabathia pursued drinking with the same "till the end" mentality as everything else. Finally, a series of disasters led to a month of rehab in 2015. Leading a sober life was necessary, but it did not tame Sabathia's trademark feistiness. He continued to fiercely rile his opponents and foment the fighting spirit in his teammates until debilitating injuries to his knees and pitching arm led to his retirement in 2019. This book represents an excellent launching point for Jay-Z’s new imprint, Roc Lit 101.
Everything about Sabathia is larger than life, yet he tells his story with honesty and humility.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-13375-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roc Lit 101
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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