A disarmingly forthright memoir that chronicles a travel-induced transformation.
McQuade remembers a cross-country bicycle trip—both arduous and romantic—with her husband.
The author and her husband, Clark, decided with surprising spontaneity to embark on a daunting trek: Travel from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, by bicycle. They were radically unprepared—both over 50 and out of shape, hardly “invincible 20-year-old athletes,” and both chose to forgo the help of technology, riding without cellphones or laptops. They encountered all manner of challenges, from the quotidian (dwindling cash, swarms of mosquitos, and hard-to-master clipless pedals) to more serious ones, like a motor home that nearly killed Clark by sucking him into its colossal draft. They stopped frequently to check out local culture and cuisine and “re-experience small-town life.” They completed the trip in 122 days, riding an impressive 3,000-plus miles. The couple reveled in their freedom while traversing the country, inspiring Clark to wax philosophic about a renewed life filled with more tranquility and fewer things and obligations. McQuade writes in companionable prose, establishing a breezy rapport with the reader. The recollection abounds with thoughtful insights about her experiences, and she candidly shares her emotional anxieties, including about the weight she struggled to shed despite her daily bicycling. The memoir is especially poignant; one knows from the outset that Clark, a man McQuade describes as her soul mate, died from an intestinal disorder in the aftermath of the trip. The book isn’t perfect; it’s far too long and includes too much detail. Also, some of the lessons the author describes border on trite, although readers’ mileage may vary: “Believe in yourself. Trust your gut and don’t let naysayers, doubters, and negative nellies sap your positive energy. The greatest reward is when you take personal pride in your own success and triumphs, especially when you believe in and respect yourself.” This is principally a love story, though, and a tender one written with lucidity and self-effacing charm.
A disarmingly forthright memoir that chronicles a travel-induced transformation.Pub Date: June 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1982256838
Page Count: 482
Publisher: Balboa Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An uplifting ode to the power of taking small steps to make big changes.
Manbeck offers direction for life’s journeys in his children’s book debut.
Using just one or two pithy sentences per page, the text encourages readers to bravely forge their own paths in the world. Whatever one hopes to accomplish or whatever one’s destination in life, the starting point is “here,” a point of view that suggests that there is power and wisdom in embracing the present moment. Manbeck assures readers that “you can go anywhere!” and includes all-caps imperatives on almost every double-page spread: “Begin”; “Take your time”; “Keep going”; “Be patient”; etc. A major thrust of the narrative is the futility of comparing oneself to others since every person is unique and there is no one-size-fits-all formula for how life should unfold. The whimsical illustrations, rendered in gouache and mixed media with digital editing, show sprightly children and their childlike anthropomorphic animal companions romping on giant fantastical play structures that recall Rube Goldberg machines. Some spreads feature a montage of the characters adventurously exploring a range of fun activities: butterfly watching, rollerblading, riding a penny-farthing, etc. Flowers and butterflies—with their associated meanings of transformation, hope, courage, success, and new beginnings—are used liberally as motifs throughout the colorful artwork. The characters have various skin tones, and one of them uses a wheelchair. Many wear party hats, conveying a mood of celebration; indeed, this book would make a good baby-shower or graduation gift.
An uplifting ode to the power of taking small steps to make big changes. (Gift book. 0-5, adult)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79721-010-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The stormy career of a top Navy SEAL hotspur. Commander Marcinko, USN Ret., recently served time at Petersburg Federal Prison for conspiracy to defraud the Navy by overcharging for specialized equipment—the result, he says, of telling off too many admirals. It seems that his ornery and joyous aggression, nurtured by a Czech grandfather in a flinty Pennsylvania mining town, has brought him to grief in peace and to brilliance in war. Serving his first tour in Vietnam in 1966 as an enlisted SEAL expert in underwater demolition, Marcinko returned for a second tour as an officer leading a commando squad he had trained. Here, his accounts of riverine warfare—creeping underwater to Vietcong boats and slipping over their gunwales; raiding VC island strongholds in the South China Sea; steaming up to the Cambodian border to tempt the VC across and being overrun- -are galvanic, detailed, and told with a true craftsman's love. What did he think of the Vietcong? ``The bastards—they were good.'' His battle philosophy? ``...kill my enemy before he has a chance to kill me....Never did I give Charlie an even break.'' After the aborted desert rescue of US hostages in the Tehran embassy, Marcinko was ordered to create SEAL Team Six—a counterterrorist unit with worldwide maritime responsibilities. In 1983, the unit was deployed to Beirut to test the security of the US embassy there. Easily evading the embassy security detail, sleeping Lebanese guards, and the Marines, the SEALs planted enough fake bombs to level the building. When Marcinko spoke to ``a senior American official'' about the problem, the SEAL's blunt security advice was rejected, particularly in respect to car-bomb attacks. Ninety days later, 63 people in the embassy compound were killed by a suicide bomber driving a TNT-filled truck. Profane and asking no quarter: the real nitty-gritty, bloody and authentic. (Eight-page photo insert—not seen.)
Pub Date: March 2, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-70390-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992
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