Unexpectedly warm, intensely inspiring: a work for dreamers—and Leonard would say that means all of us.
Twelve lessons on how to become an artist and/or live your dream, as dictated by the author’s father, poet and teacher Leonard Wolf.
Feminist Naomi Wolf broke onto the literary scene as a young woman, producing The Beauty Myth (1991) when she was still in her 20s. No wonder—even her elementary-school poetry had been critiqued with rigor. And what a critic she must have had. Despite its having been mediated through his daughter’s words and stretched to fit every student, his philosophy makes Leonard Wolf come across with the force of a thunderbolt, as an electric, commanding teacher. He is, Wolf says, a man who has always lived outside of convention, one who still inspires everyone he comes across—students, colleagues, casual acquaintances—to listen to their “heart's wisdom.” Even the family’s building superintendent learned to follow his dreams after speaking with Leonard. Still, like most children, the author spent many years fleeing her father’s dictums, though now, as a parent and teacher herself, she is eager to absorb his philosophy. And so, over the course of a single summer, he shares with her his essential lesson plan. His lessons—“Use Your Imagination,” “Do Nothing Without Passion,” “Pay Attention to the Details,” “Your Only Wage Will be Joy”—are illustrated by scenes from his life, challenges Wolf faces with her own students, and the Wolfs’ combined efforts to construct a solid tree house for Naomi’s daughter. Leonard’s peripatetic life, even without the accompanying philosophy, would make for good reading, and Naomi’s childhood, too, is unexpectedly entertaining, colored as it was by Leonard’s follow-your-heart philosophy. For cultural gossips, her story should be interesting if only for the glimpse of the fiery Naomi Wolf longing for a way to soften her voice and become a better listener.
Unexpectedly warm, intensely inspiring: a work for dreamers—and Leonard would say that means all of us.Pub Date: May 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-4977-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2005
At this rate, Tyson may write a multivolume memoir as he continues to struggle and survive.
An exhaustive—and exhausting—chronicle of the champ's boxing career and disastrous life.
Tyson was dealt an unforgiving hand as a child, raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn in a "horrific, tough and gruesome" environment populated by "loud, aggressive" people who "smelled like raw sewage.” A first-grade dropout with several break-ins under his belt by age 7, his formal education resumed when he was placed in juvenile detention at age 11, but the lesson he learned at home was to do absolutely anything to survive. Two years later, his career path was set when he met legendary boxing trainer Cus D'Amato. However, Tyson’s temperament never changed; if anything, it hardened when he took on the persona of Iron Mike, a merciless and savage fighter who became undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. By his own admission, he was an "arrogant sociopath" in and out of the ring, and he never reconciled his thuggish childhood with his adult self—nor did he try. He still partied with pimps, drug addicts and hustlers, and he was determined to feed all of his vices and fuel several drug addictions at the cost of his freedom (he recounts his well-documented incarcerations), sanity and children. Yet throughout this time, he remained a voracious reader, and he compares himself to Clovis and Charlemagne and references Camus, Sartre, Mao Zedong and Nietzsche's "Overman" in casual conversation. Tyson is a slumdog philosopher whose insatiable appetites have ruined his life many times over. He remains self-loathing and pitiable, and his tone throughout the book is sardonic, exasperated and indignant, his language consistently crude. The book, co-authored by Sloman (co-author: Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of Kiss, 2012, etc.), reads like his journal; he updated it after reading the galleys and added "A Postscript to the Epilogue" as well.
At this rate, Tyson may write a multivolume memoir as he continues to struggle and survive.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-16128-5
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
Rhimes said “yes” to sharing her insights. Following her may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but you’ll be glad you...
The queen of Thursday night TV delivers a sincere and inspiring account of saying yes to life.
Rhimes, the brain behind hits like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, is an introvert. She describes herself as a young girl, playing alone in the pantry, making up soap-opera script stories to act out with the canned goods. Speaking in public terrified her; going to events exhausted her. She was always busy, and she didn’t have enough time for her daughters. One Thanksgiving changed it all: when her sister observed that she never said “yes” to anything, Rhimes took it as a challenge. She started, among other things, accepting invitations, facing unpleasant conversations, and playing with her children whenever they asked. The result was a year of challenges and self-discovery that led to a fundamental shift in how she lives her life. Rhimes tells us all about it in the speedy, smart style of her much-loved TV shows. She’s warm, eminently relatable, and funny. We get an idea of what it’s like to be a successful TV writer and producer, to be the ruler of Shondaland, but the focus is squarely on the lessons one can learn from saying yes rather than shying away. Saying no was easy, Rhimes writes. It was comfortable, “a way to disappear.” But after her year, no matter how tempting it is, “I can no longer allow myself to say no. No is no longer in my vocabulary.” The book is a fast read—readers could finish it in the time it takes to watch a full lineup of her Thursday night programing—but it’s not insubstantial. Like a cashmere shawl you pack just in case, Year of Yes is well worth the purse space, and it would make an equally great gift.
Rhimes said “yes” to sharing her insights. Following her may not land you on the cover of a magazine, but you’ll be glad you did.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4767-7709-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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