An affecting work of grief and longing.
A memoir of pregnancy loss and recovery.
Mele-Bazaz, a wife, mother, and debut author, recounts the stillbirth of her first daughter in the 26th week of pregnancy. After an introduction about her great-grandmother losing a child, she begins her own story with a tone of joyful optimism. She became pregnant at the age of 25, which she says felt young to her; nonetheless, she felt ready for motherhood. She and her partner wed several months later and enjoyed a “babymoon,” a special trip some couples take before the birth of a child. However, as Mele-Bazaz heartrendingly describes, she became worried when she could no longer feel her baby moving; she soon went through labor that didn’t result in a live birth. She goes on to tell of hospital procedures that including a policy of allowing the mother to see and hold the baby, which the author was initially reluctant to do. Mele-Bazaz tells of postpartum physical issues and her experience of mourning; at different points, she describes seeking solace by adopting a dog and by taking up long-distance running—the latter with the goal of running a marathon with the hope of seeing her daughter in a vision at the finish line, as other runners who’d lost loved ones have done. Some readers may find the sections involving her pursuit of this vision to be less relatable. However, the work is often touching, as when the author explains what happened to an acquaintance who was unaware: “ ‘I’m sorry. We lost her.’ I didn’t know why I apologized nor why I couldn’t find the right words to explain that our baby had died. I lost my baby sounded gentler, as if there were still a possibility my baby could be found one day.” She also includes details of her grief process that struck her as odd, such as returning to her job and finding that “working at a place where everyone knew my story was difficult.” Overall, it’s a moving and necessary account of a painful event and its emotional aftermath.
An affecting work of grief and longing.Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-955119-33-7
Page Count: 194
Publisher: Kat Biggie Press
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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
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