A stirring success story, though jumbled in its approach.
Daniels recounts an eventful career and analyzes various pandemics in this debut memoir.
The author decided early in life that he wanted to be a “disease detective.” As a Black child, born in the 1970s in Buffalo, New York, and raised in one of the “poorest and toughest” neighborhoods in the United States, he knew this goal seemed unrealistic. Yet, supported and inspired by a “wonderful and nurturing” mother, Lillian, who worked as a teacher’s aide and in food services, Daniels excelled academically and was ultimately accepted by Cornell University. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, he pursued a master’s degree in public health and infectious disease epidemiology at Yale before completing his doctoral degree at the University of Washington. The author describes various assignments, such as working as a consultant for the World Health Organization investigating the cause of diarrheal diseases in Southeast Asia. Daniels also discusses his experiences as a doctor working through the HIV/AIDS and Covid pandemics, providing commentary on subjects such as prevention and preparedness. His story is both inspirational and illuminating, particularly regarding his struggle to overcome systemic barriers to education: “My high school guidance counselor suggested I consider going to a community college or an obscure historically Black college. I told him I wanted to go to an Ivy League school, and he laughed at me…” Some of the author’s language may confound those who do not have a medical background, as when he holds forth on “the most potent known bacterial toxins, which block the release of an important transmitter at the neuromuscular junction.” However, the sections detailing his work history remain accessible to the layperson and include unexpected and fascinating digressions, such as Daniels shadowing oyster harvesters on Galveston Bay to investigate Vibrio infections. Ultimately, the narrative tries to do too much: There are enough ideas here for three or more books—a powerful memoir, a survey of historical pandemics, and a medical and political commentary on HIV/AIDS and Covid. The result is a fragmented text that leaves the reader asking for further details in all areas.
A stirring success story, though jumbled in its approach.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1639886616
Page Count: 268
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2023
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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