An articulate, poignant, and gritty family account, but one in need of a short follow-up.
In this memoir, a woman recounts the emotional and physical struggles to save her micropreemie baby.
Harris’ baby was due in January 2011. But in September 2010, the author went into labor and was rushed to the hospital. The tiny fetus was still four days short of the 24-week mark, the accepted standard for potential viability. But the gestational sac had begun to emerge from her uterus. Harris was placed in the “Trendelenburg” position, with the head of her bed tilted downward at a 30-degree angle, a spot she remained in for six days. The night of the sixth day, she was pumped full of drugs to slow the labor. In the morning, she was examined by the on-call perinatologist, who declared: “I believe this is a doomed pregnancy, and you should stop treatment and let it go.” But Harris had already suffered two miscarriages in her attempt to have a second child, including the heartbreaking loss of twins during the 14th week of her pregnancy. She was not about to give up without a fight. Samuel William was born five days later—having made it several days across the 24-week divide. He was 12 inches long and weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces. Having survived birth, he would now face 95 roller-coaster days in the newborn intensive care unit, including surgeries on his heart and retinas, before he could go home. Harris relates to readers her entire experience of Sam’s birth and the following months, up until his first birthday, through meticulous descriptions, revealing some of the most intimate details of her own recovery and the precious moments she shared with the tiny infant. Some readers may find themselves squirming during the more graphic passages. Still, the painstaking, moving memoir is packed with valuable information and intriguing factoids about the unique micropreemie world. In her acknowledgement section, Harris thanks her first child, Irene: “I know you have had to deal with more than most kids ever have to deal with.” Unfortunately, despite earlier extensive personal disclosures, there is no afterword, leaving engaged readers pondering the subsequent consequences of Sam’s four-month-early birth.
An articulate, poignant, and gritty family account, but one in need of a short follow-up.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64742-213-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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