A well-written tribute to engineering projects and the volunteers who run them.
An engineer celebrates a quirky leader behind several public works projects in Guatemala.
In this debut memoir, Paddock describes the decades of work he did in the Guatemalan highlands through Engineers Without Borders, building bridges and bringing clean water to rural communities. Although the author narrates the story, he is a minor character. The book’s focus is on Michael Shawcross, a British expatriate made his home in the highlands, and served as a link between the communities he lived in and the Western volunteers who supplied knowledge and equipment; he died in 2014. Known to all as Don Mike, Shawcross is a larger-than-life figure in these pages, famous for his diplomatic abilities as well as the much-repaired white Land Cruiser that took him and Paddock to their projects. (The book includes photographs from various sources, many of which feature Don Mike’s Santa Claus–esque beard and make his raconteur qualities evident.) The author concentrates on two projects the pair worked on: a bridge over a dangerous river and a plumbing system that brought potable water to a village for the first time. Don Mike served as a human bridge, teaching Paddock about Guatemala’s recent history (“Although it may not be openly discussed, the past is part of the context of every project,” he says) and helping local communities develop ownership over undertakings that required outside help. The author values both the labor and the expertise of the Guatemalans who worked on the projects, and local residents like Mincho, Rolando, and Gavina are fully developed, authentic characters whose efforts are crucial to the enterprises’ success. Paddock is a solid writer with an occasional vivid turn of phrase (“The next morning, eighty workers lifted the cages and slowly moved them onto the bridge like a centipede with 160 legs”), and the book is both enjoyable and informative. Don Mike comes off as unique without being eccentric, making him a compelling protagonist. Fans of Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains are likely to enjoy this inside look at locally driven international development.
A well-written tribute to engineering projects and the volunteers who run them.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 287
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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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