A musician proves himself a talented, if long-winded, writer with a very good memory.
A painstaking emotional accounting of a tortured youth ultimately redeemed through music, therapy, and love.
In his debut, Jollett, the frontman for the indie band Airborne Toxic Event, opens the narrative in an orphanagelike facility in California when he was introduced to a strange woman who had come to take him away. “I remember that a 'Mom' is supposed to be a special thing....She tells me I’m her son and she wanted kids so she would not be alone anymore and now she has us and it is a son’s job to take care of his mother,” he writes. Both the author's parents were members of Synanon, a drug-recovery program–turned-cult that took children from their parents when they were 6 months old. After their release from captivity, Jollett and his brother grew up in extreme poverty in rural Oregon. Their mother's distorted view of the parent-child relationship made her almost completely useless as a caretaker; her terminally alcoholic boyfriend was the boys' only reliable source of either physical sustenance or affection. For the first third of the book, the author attempts to portray the world, and the English language, as he perceived it at age 5 and 6. His troubled mother had “deep-russian.” She hated “Thatasshole Reagan.” Another escapee from the cult was beaten by goons and developed “men-in-ji-tis” in the hospital; he thought about sending the cult leader a “sub-peena.” This becomes tiring, and since Jollett's mother was ultimately diagnosed with a personality disorder, the level of detail and repetition with regard to her maternal failures is overdone. The author's father, though an ex-con and former addict, is the story’s hero; he is beautifully written and lights up the book. In fifth grade, a friend introduced Jollett to the Cure. The Smiths and David Bowie were not far behind, and the teenage portion of the book, during which he often lived with his father in Los Angeles, is a smoother read. Ultimately, as he lucidly shows, music would change his life.
A musician proves himself a talented, if long-winded, writer with a very good memory.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-62156-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
Raekwon’s raw memoir holds nothing back about his stormy life in Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop’s most-admired artists.
A memoir from the celebrated rapper.
The Wu-Tang Clan has always cultivated an air of mystery, and Raekwon is one of the most secretive of the Staten Island rappers, so it’s refreshing to see how forthcoming he is in his first book. Unlike most rappers, Raekwon, aka The Chef, doesn’t really speak or rhyme directly. The force behind the Wu-Tang hit “C.R.E.A.M.” and the classic solo album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… makes his points more through imagery and vivid descriptions than straightforward boasts. However, with the help of noted biographer Bozza, Raekwon tells his own compelling story with a limited number of artistic flourishes. The author tells his truth unflinchingly, refusing to gloss over his mistakes or the mistakes of others. He covers his troubled youth of petty robbery and drug-dealing and the realization after he was shot that he had a skill for writing rhymes. He offers a cleareyed walk-through of the decision-making process struggling hip-hop artists go through when faced with their first record deals. Even though they may not be getting what they are due, they often have no real leverage. The author applies his no-nonsense approach to the world around him. “When you grow up a young black man in a poor urban community,” he writes, “you become accustomed to what is in front of you and numb to circumstances that ain’t right. If you keep your wits about you and find a potential way out, you grab it and hold on with all you’ve got. As a fan, hip-hop was my escape from reality.” Raekwon offers revelations about how his relationship with Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA soured. He also discusses the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Sagaas well as how a rare Wu-Tang album ended up in the hands of “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli.
Raekwon’s raw memoir holds nothing back about his stormy life in Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop’s most-admired artists.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982168-72-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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