A slow read in some places but worth it for a deeper understanding of an important issue.
A personal account of sexual assault in the military, from the point of view of a cadet in the Air Force Academy.
Hall, a crisis counselor and survivor advocate, begins the book with the story of her turbulent childhood (absent biological father, mercurial mother, and another abusive father figure), the experience of which gave her the determination to make herself an astronaut. Along her path, she was sexually assaulted by not one, but three men, including an upperclassman who had already been accused of rape and infected her with herpes. Hall focuses largely on the aftermath of rape rather than the attacks themselves, and she provides a well-written account of the many injustices—not just sexual assault—suffered by women in the military: doctors who ignore symptoms and make no effort to treat illnesses, the fear of reporting both the assault and the illness, and the casual insults that reinforce shame and lack of self-worth. “The culture we lived in, particularly in the military, only reinforced the idea that we were to blame,” she writes. As she wrote, Hall was coming to terms with the extent of her trauma and inability to cope. In addition to wrestling with the countless difficult emotions that her experiences provoked, Hall opens a window onto sexual assault in general and the effect it has immediately and years, even decades, afterward. While it may not be the right read for everyone due to its unique point of view and profusion of self-blame, it will certainly enlighten those who overcome their discomfort long enough to understand that by taking readers along on her journey, Hall allows them to truly understand how victims internalize the worst accusations of the culture around them and the monumental effort needed to combat their own self-doubt.
A slow read in some places but worth it for a deeper understanding of an important issue.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8070-8933-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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