A remembrance that offers keen observations about cultural differences while celebrating the power of love.
Evans’ debut memoir charts her adventures in Italy, first as a graduate student and then as the fiancee of an Italian man with hard-to-please parents.
The American author and her two younger brothers were raised by a single mom, and her father, who was largely absent during the first nine years of her life, only sporadically visited. In 2008, when she was 27, one of her siblings tragically died, plaguing her with feelings of guilt and a need to seize all the possibilities that life might have in store. She arrived in the San Lorenzo area of Florence, Italy, on her birthday the next year to study painting: “I needed catharsis more than oxygen,” she writes, and the vibrancy of Italy seemed to promise that very catharsis. She eventually found her niche as an artist; she first painted a series of images of vaginas in close-up and then moved on to video work in which she asked women to describe an orgasm on-camera. As Evans hit her creative stride, she began a relationship with a handsome Italian man named Francesco. They fell in love, but their romance was tested when she met his domineering parents, who instantly disliked her—and weren’t afraid to let it be known. Throughout this wittily acerbic memoir, Evans offers dry humor and sharp feminist insights. She notes, for example, how she felt inhibited around Francesco’s mom, as “it was a little hard to open up around someone who appeared to beg God to kill you on a regular basis,” but she wasn’t willing to give in to her demands and assume a traditional role of a wife and daughter-in-law. “I’d never liked the idea of packaged identities,” Evans writes, noting “that being someone’s wife or mom meant specific things to people and that they’d relentlessly try to make you fit into that mold until you succumbed or died.” Throughout the book, Evans effectively balances moments of humor and self-discovery, resulting in a read that’s appealingly candid and often funny.
A remembrance that offers keen observations about cultural differences while celebrating the power of love.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73341-550-7
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Capybara Media
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.
The veteran newscaster reflects on her triumphs and hardships, both professional and private.
In this eagerly anticipated memoir, Couric (b. 1957) transforms the events of her long, illustrious career into an immensely readable story—a legacy-preserving exercise, for sure, yet judiciously polished and insightful, several notches above the fray of typical celebrity memoirs. The narrative unfolds through a series of lean chapters as she recounts the many career ascendency steps that led to her massively successful run on the Today Show and comparably disappointing stints as CBS Evening News anchor, talk show host, and Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. On the personal front, the author is candid in her recollections about her midlife adventures in the dating scene and deeply sorrowful and affecting regarding the experience of losing her husband to colon cancer as well as the deaths of other beloved family members, including her sister and parents. Throughout, Couric maintains a sharp yet cool-headed perspective on the broadcast news industry and its many outsized personalities and even how her celebrated role has diminished in recent years. “It’s AN ADJUSTMENT when the white-hot spotlight moves on,” she writes. “The ego gratification of being the It girl is intoxicating (toxic being the root of the word). When that starts to fade, it takes some getting used to—at least it did for me.” Readers who can recall when network news coverage and morning shows were not only relevant, but powerfully influential forces will be particularly drawn to Couric’s insights as she tracks how the media has evolved over recent decades and reflects on the negative effects of the increasing shift away from reliable sources of informed news coverage. The author also discusses recent important cultural and social revolutions, casting light on issues of race and sexual orientation, sexism, and the predatory behavior that led to the #MeToo movement. In that vein, she expresses her disillusionment with former co-host and friend Matt Lauer.
A sharp, entertaining view of the news media from one of its star players.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-53586-1
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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