Charmingly amusing yet seriously enlightening advice.
A guide pays tribute to those with gumption.
Many Yiddish words do not translate perfectly into English because they carry nuances that are not always easy to define. Chutzpah is one of them. While widely recognized, chutzpah can have either positive or negative connotations depending on how it is used to describe the actions of an individual. According to Harris, “Chutzpah is a blend of personality traits and learned skills that combine to provide exceptional results.” He cleverly utilizes the word to form an acronym wrought with meaning: Each letter represents an area in a behavioral “model.” For example, C stands for “Carpe Diem” (Latin for “seize the moment”), a foundational pillar of CHUTZPAH, writes Harris. He relates a few intriguing anecdotes to illustrate carpe diem, including how he met his wife and how a simple note led to the acquisition of a company. H (“Handling Objections”), U (“Uncovering Need, Pain, and Opportunity”), and the rest of the letters follow suit. Harris clearly had to stretch his creativity to come up with Z (“Z is for Zigzag: Video Gaming and Life”). What makes the concept work, though, is the author’s liberal treatment of both the word chutzpah and the richness of context he derives from it. The areas associated with the eight letters in the word are common to other self-help works, but Harris manages to combine just enough good-natured humor with engaging anecdotes and folksy advice to make the book both enjoyable to read and a learning experience. He even comes up with the occasional verbal gem, referring, for example, to small-business owners as “chutzpahpreneurs.” But there is some serious messaging in the manual’s pages as well. “People who lack chutzpah tend to avoid making decisions,” the author warns. On the other hand, being humble is necessary, advises Harris: “Think of this as quiet chutzpah, the skill of balancing humility and people, not solely ambition.” The author himself has chutzpah: Where else would you find Mother Teresa and Steve Jobs mentioned in the same paragraph?
Charmingly amusing yet seriously enlightening advice.Pub Date: April 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-952233-54-8
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Indie Books International
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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