An anthology about something we all have. In addition to short fiction by Frank O'Connor (``My Oedipus Complex''), Alice Walker (``Everyday Use''), and others, Golden has included Jane Goodall's take on the nature vs. nurture dilemma in an essay about chimpanzees (``Mothers and Daughters''). There are also pieces by Pearl S. Buck, Bertolt Brecht, Michael Dorris, and Louise Erdrich, among others.
Pub Date: May 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-87113-569-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
An evolutionary biologist’s view of family life serves as a cautionary demonstration of the limitations inherent in rigidly interpreting evidence according to a single scientific viewpoint. Biologist Baker (Sperm Wars, 1996) and freelance journalist Oram want to shed new light on couples’ disagreements regarding parenthood and on family conflict once children arrive. Instead, they inadvertently provide an excellent lesson on the intellectual danger of single-minded devotion to a solitary principle, in this case, the idea that all human behavior is the result of genes that are solely devoted to perpetuating the human race. For each of their topics, from pregnancy and labor through infant care and on to later family life, Baker and Oram begin with a fictional scenario. The florid prose is off-putting (“The man, still half-naked, his legs shrouded in mist, was running round and round . . . his shirt flattened over his shrunken penis and flapping against his bottom”), and in some cases (incest and abuse) the scenarios themselves are offensive. The authors look at how these fictional couples/families fit their thesis of striving for reproductive success, finding that sources of conflict abound. From men wanting to impregnate as many women as possible vs. women looking for a single strong protector/provider, to the —war— between the parents’ genes when the baby is in utero, the authors fit their cases too neatly to their thesis, describing those who fail to accept their evidence as emotionally unable to accept the fact that behavior has firm biological roots. Few readers will buy Baker and Oram’s analysis of the other end of life: a grandmother forced by tragic circumstances to raise her grandchildren will not only be fulfilling the biological task of helping her genes survive, they argue, but “will probably find her post-menopausal life more rewarding than that of the majority of her contemporaries.” For an unbiased, vastly better supported discussion of similar ground, see instead Bruce Bagemihl’s Biological Exuberance (1999). A narrow-minded argument, poorly presented.
Pub Date: April 22, 1999
ISBN: 0-88001-658-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
A perceptive look at contemporary gay and lesbian youth. Novelist (Give Me Time, 1984, etc.) and journalist Due traveled the US interviewing gay young people from widely divergent backgrounds. Allyson, for instance, goes to Deerfield, a prestigious New England boarding school, while Paul's mother takes in foster kids out of economic necessity; after he tried to fondle one, the state prohibited him from living at home. Due's interviewees are also at varying stages in their coming out processes: Some have told almost no one that they are gay, while others are outspoken activists. Being a lesbian, Due has more insight into her subjects than many writers; her account is much stronger than that of Kurt Chandler (Passages of Pride, p. 826), a heterosexual journalist to whom the struggles of lesbian and gay youth are foreign and gay culture exotic. Due can empathize with her subjects; this lends a particular intimacy to her interviews. She is also conversant in lesbian and gay culture, so she doesn't mistake clichÇs for fresh revelations or develop a tourist-like fascination with commonplaces like butch/femme. Being a lesbian also gives Due a point of reference that allows her to respond to her subjects skeptically; when an award-winning young essayist tells her that college isn't important to him, she is able to look beyond his words and probe further. She learns that he is afraid to go to college, afraid to meet new people after struggling so much with his homophobic high school. Such moments occur often in Due's interviews; she shows respect for her subjects without taking everything they say at face value. Adults have much to learn from this complex look at a group of young people, who, despite the gains of gay liberation, still grow up very much on their own.
Pub Date: Sept. 11, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-47500-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Anchor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
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