A cleareyed take on a soccer star’s life, both on and off the field.
American soccer legend Donovan delves into trauma and triumph in a thoughtful memoir.
The author is widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players the United States has ever produced, and although he addresses his athletic career at length, he also looks deeply into his difficult childhood. His parents split up when he was young, and he and his twin sister were raised primarily by their mother, who struggled to support the family on a special-education teacher’s salary. He speaks highly of her self-sacrifice in some of the book’s most touching passages: “When you’re a kid, you can’t possibly know how long a day your mom puts in.” A major theme of the book is forgiveness, most evident in his account of how he reconciled with his largely absent father. Donovan speaks highly of therapy, which helped him deal with the stresses of early life. A breakthrough came at the 2002 World Cup, during which he guided the United States to the quarterfinals. He also openly discusses his struggles with depression, with the first bout coinciding with the 2006 World Cup; he discusses the trauma of his own divorce, and how he found love later in life. Overall, Donovan’s memoir is poignant and compelling, and it’s a must-read for any American soccer enthusiast; the author examines the ups and downs of soccer in the United States over the past quarter-century through a unique lens. Reflecting on his time in Major League Soccer, Donovan describes his initially tense relationship with legendary player David Beckham. The pair played for the L.A. Galaxy between 2007 and 2012, but the author questioned how committed Beckham was to the team, as his celebrity status often caused distractions. Eventually, though, the two became friends through shared effort on the soccer pitch, leading the team to back-to-back MLS Cup championships. The author also expresses frustration with U.S. soccer coach Jürgen Klinsmann, who chose to leave Donovan off the national team during its ultimately unsuccessful 2014 World Cup run. Overall, Donovan is widely seen as one of the sport’s great ambassadors, a status that he solidifies further through this thoughtful presentation of his life and work.
A cleareyed take on a soccer star’s life, both on and off the field.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781774586914
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Page Two
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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