A sincere account that examines a man who likes to help.
A grief counselor reflects on his life leading up to his involvement with the case of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in this memoir.
Yin rose to prominence as the grief counselor to the families of the victims of Flight 370, which disappeared en route to Beijing on March 8, 2014, in what remains one of the greatest aviation mysteries of all time. He became the face of the victims’ families, speaking with international media outlets and advocating on their behalf. What in Yin’s life prepared him for this moment of crisis? With this book, he details his unusual life story. A star student in China, he came to the United States at age 16 to attend college, initially working as a motel custodian and living out of a literal storage closet. He discovered a major that was not taught in Chinese universities at the time: psychology. (“Originally, I found it very confusing. Every professor had a different view of psychology. It seemed they all belonged to a different school of thought!”) Entering the field, Yin got off to a rocky start attempting to counsel his psychology-averse fellow Chinese immigrants. He eventually returned to China, where his work as a counselor placed him at the center of a number of major events, including the SARS outbreak, the Sichuan Earthquake, the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, and the Malaysia Airlines case, where the lack of closure on the part of the devastated families presented particular challenges. The book—written with debut author Kraus—features a bouncy, conversational prose that communicates Yin’s earnestness, no matter the situation: “I noticed an elderly lady sitting on the floor who was crying. I sat down beside her while tears began rolling in single streams down my cheeks. I held her hands, and I closed my eyes; she put her head on my shoulder and started crying louder.” Yin is an idiosyncratic character, informed as much by Christian teachings and an inherent cheeriness as he is by Western psychology. The volume is not as polished as readers might like, but it offers a unique glimpse into the role of a grief counselor in various high-profile public tragedies.
A sincere account that examines a man who likes to help.Pub Date: March 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-692-06573-0
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Kraus House Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2018
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
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
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