A realistic and disturbing glimpse into an unenviable childhood.
A memoir about a childhood of sexual abuse from debut author Herrera.
Growing up in El Salvador in a fatherless, poor family, young Perto hasn’t had things easy. From working in the fields for little to no money to seeing his mother pregnant again in spite of their economic situation, Perto would likely have faced a difficult life even without the episodes of sexual abuse that end up defining much of his childhood. Beginning with molestation from an acquaintance of his mother’s and escalating to rape and torment from several members of the community, Perto’s story is a horrifying glimpse into the life of an abused child. “When everything started I was seven years old—an innocent boy,” he says. “I was at the mercy of the adults in my life. Those adults, including my mother, were supposed to protect me from abuse, but they did not.” A main tormentor tends to visit Perto’s village on weekends, so the end of the week is dreaded. The explicit descriptions of abuse can be difficult to read: “It felt like a sharp handsaw was ripping the tissue of my rectum.” Attempts to placate the abuser are never successful—“Right away I did what he said because I was afraid of him”—and are met only by abuse from others who learn to view the victim as willing and defenseless. Cries for mercy fall on deaf ears, but how else can a young boy fight against full-grown men who feel no shame in committing unimaginable crimes? With a distinct Christian message, the story of Perto’s salvation from his troubled childhood is one involving lots of prayer and fantastical episodes in nature, including an eagle transforming into an angel ensconced in a rainbow of light. Though the conclusion may lose some readers, the book is notable for its believable downward spiral of abuse. Depictions of many characters prove less than illuminating, particularly as readers might hope for more information about Perto’s village and the people who populate it. Consequently, the story moves quickly, with just enough time to let the horror sink in.
A realistic and disturbing glimpse into an unenviable childhood.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1480154230
Page Count: 234
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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