A notable, inspirational story of hardship and survival.
Raccosta’s remarkable family memoir recounts and reflects on caring for two sons battling a rare, life-threatening illness.
In 1999 and 2000, doctors told the author that her infant sons, James and Sam, had inherited a rare genetic disorder, tri-functional protein deficiency. James, meanwhile, was also suffering from an unrelated rare liver disorder. As Raccosta struggled to understand the complex diagnoses, Dr. Elizabeth Rand of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), a pediatric liver disease specialist, told her that James might have been the sixth diagnosed case in the world to suffer from both diseases. James endured two liver transplants and countless other hospitalizations and surgeries, and he suffered a cardiac arrest that left him brain-damaged. His spitfire younger brother, Sam, endured his own round of life-threatening incidents. Both children required continuous intestinal feeding pumps and regular blood sugar checks, as well as the usual infant care. The entire family spent more time at CHOP than at home, and the author’s healthy daughter Gabrielle grew accustomed to her mother’s absence; for Raccosta, the situation became a major source of anxiety as she missed family holidays and many of her daughter’s milestones. The author’s riveting storytelling, original poems and light humor set her story apart from many other parenting memoirs. The author expresses her anger and frustration and questions God about her family’s situation, but she also maintains a healthy, empathetic perspective, and her recognition of her blessings keeps her, and her story, from plummeting into despair. Much of the memoir centers on hospital visits and caregiving, but Raccosta also shares how she and her husband sustained one another and learned to lean on friends and family to get through an unimaginable decade. The Raccostas not only survive, but thrive, in this eloquent family love story.
A notable, inspirational story of hardship and survival.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-1475032062
Page Count: 302
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A harrowing memoir of grief and love.
An indelible portrait of a mother’s courage.
Award-winning novelist McCann and Foley, mother of murdered journalist James Wright Foley (1973-2014), offer a powerful recounting of the unspeakable tragedy and its aftermath. In August 2014, after being held hostage for two years, Jim was beheaded by Islamic Group terrorists. He had been taken hostage once before, in Libya, but that time was released after 44 days. Undaunted, he went to Syria “determined to bear witness to the horrific bombings and gassings of innocent civilians by the Assad regime.” After he was taken hostage, the Foley family, to their deepening dismay, discovered that the U.S. refused unequivocally to negotiate for hostages’ release, and the Foleys were threatened with prosecution if they tried to raise ransom money on their own. Meanwhile, though, through “an incredibly circuitous route,” several European governments managed to free their own hostages. “They insinuated themselves carefully into the communications system,” the authors write, “got under the umbrella of the emails, and forged their own secret methods that included a network of agents and ambassadors and, yes, even spies.” Foley vents her anger toward the many government officials who claimed they were powerless to help. “The plain fact of the matter is that we don’t care as much for our aid workers or our volunteer ambulance drivers or our journalists as we do for our military,” the authors assert. Foley and her family founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to advocate for the freedom of those taken hostage or detained abroad, and she takes hope from recent legislation, most recently by Biden’s executive order, in support of hostages. Hoping for “answers to help her in the wider work against hostage-taking,” Foley met with one of the terrorists involved in her son’s murder—unsettling encounters that bracket the striking narrative.
A harrowing memoir of grief and love.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9798985882452
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Etruscan Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
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