A well-rounded perspective of Omani life.
Al Suleimany (Being the Safe Driver!, 2013, etc.) collects his wide-ranging columns from the Oman Daily Observer (an English daily) into one volume.
Subject matter here ranges from Omani politics to social ills, workplace life and religious reflections. Of the book’s purpose, Al Suleimany writes: “It is hoped that people will buy this book for the greater cause of people talking and communicating to each other—and in building tolerance, patience, understanding, love, togetherness and oneness in humanity—as the main theme and focus of this book—and in spreading these universal messages to mankind.” He treats each disparate topic with the same sensibility, keeping his stated purpose at the forefront. With a tone by turns admonishing and casual, he manages to make moral pronouncements without coming across as condescending or pedantic. Many of his moral concerns center on matters of etiquette, both in the workplace and at home. He writes, “As a human resources professional and consultant, even I have found dealing with family members as the most hard, complex and difficult in comparisons! (sic) Jobs are definitely much easier!” His opinions are informed by his religion; for instance, in a discussion of debt, he reminds his readers that the Surah II Al Baqarah reads, “If the debtor is in a difficulty, grant him time till it is easy for him to repay.” The profusion of articles is arranged alphabetically by topic, with a table of contents. Despite the status as a collection, the work is more or less disjointed; often, it’s not immediately clear what topic a particular piece seeks to discuss. What redeems the disorder, however, is the force of Al Suleimany’s personality, which comes through in every article, no matter the topic.
A well-rounded perspective of Omani life.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482323603
Page Count: 626
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
