An unusual approach and a vivid, playful style make for amusing (unofficial) interpretive psychology.
As a commentary on wider cultural norms and preoccupations, Koziey (Educational Psychology/Univ. of Alberta, Canada; How to Grow in Love, 2012) explores the life and psychological meltdown of Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen.
Academic works are often laden with obscure illustrative examples, which makes Charlie Sheen an unusual starting point to explore sexual repression and the unfiltered attainment of self-knowledge. While Koziey’s book makes no claims to be a researched psychological treatise on the subject, the structure of the work is reminiscent of a thoughtful academic work. Koziey uses Sheen’s publicly recorded bouts of drug use, prostitution and outlandish statements to support his theory that Western social childhood conditioning perverts a person’s natural sexual impulses and corresponding knowledge of his or her true self. Koziey uses a point scale from -6000 (Belief in Ego) to +96 (Reduced Ego) to map the journeys of those who have undergone a certain set of social conditions to their eventual graduation to a “higher state.” Koziey’s thesis is that the suppression of sexual urges—and the corresponding warping of sex from a natural act to an obsessive, secrecy-shrouded sin—makes for an unhealthy person; while hardly groundbreaking, his framing method is original. “He felt a throbbing aliveness and growing awareness of the infinite possibilities that lie hidden within him, indeed, within us all,” reads a typical passage documenting Sheen’s “transformation.” This interior glimpse into Sheen’s psychological state is, of course, entirely unsupportable, so the value of the work lies both in its entertainment value and the platitudes that knit together the passionate third-person explorations of the actor’s internal struggle. There are a few excellent pieces of advice, including the idea that “we are taught that we must first become the ideal, and then we can really start living. But ideals are impossible—we always fall short.” This decision to layer theory and observation with celebrity quotes makes for an altogether intriguing read, though the validity of the arguments always feels tenuous, since Koziey conducted no interviews with his subject.
An unusual approach and a vivid, playful style make for amusing (unofficial) interpretive psychology.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-927588-31-4
Page Count: 221
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
