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
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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