by Megan Cyrulewski ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 17, 2014
While providing some insights into mental illness and abuse, this work becomes too mired in the maneuvers of a father to...
A debut memoir offers a straightforward account of an emotionally abusive marriage.
Cyrulewski begins her book with a brief, intense scene: She can’t stop crying. She feels she’s a terrible mother and that her daughter would be better off without her. She wants to die. This glimpse of postpartum depression and anxiety may ring true for many new mothers, and pulls a reader into the story. But rather than examining this condition, the work explores a different subject. While Cyrulewski writes about her admittance to a psychiatric ward after the birth of Madelyne, her narrative focuses on her relationship with Tyler, her husband, then ex, and her daughter’s father. The author recounts how they met and quickly married. She also relates many early warning signs: Tyler, a recovering drug addict, used their wedding money to pay a debt she didn’t know he had. Verbally abusive almost from the start, he refused to help around the house and made her feel as if she were to blame for everything that went wrong. Yet he always apologized and she was swayed—to the point that she caved into his pleas to have a child just to save the marriage. Halfway through the account, Cyrulewski discovers that Tyler likely has narcissistic personality disorder, a condition causing a warped sense of self-importance, often leading to exploitative and abusive relationships. While this could be relevant for women trapped in similar circumstances, the volume unfortunately centers on Tyler. Though the author sheds some light on the insidious pattern of emotional abuse, she fails to delve deeply enough into her own mental state, or conversely, broaden her view beyond her own experience to show why she and many others stay in such relationships. Indeed, the second half of the volume, after Cyrulewski files for divorce, is so weighed down by copious details about Tyler’s actions (legal and otherwise) and failures as a parent that it reads less like a memoir and more like a defense brief. But throughout her ordeal, the author finds solace in Madelyne: “My daughter is my strength, my happiness, my love.”
While providing some insights into mental illness and abuse, this work becomes too mired in the maneuvers of a father to engage a broad readership.Pub Date: July 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-62694-151-9
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Black Opal Books
Review Posted Online: July 24, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Elijah Wald ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 25, 2015
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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