A powerfully compelling and moving story of a remarkable racehorse.
A debut memoir recounts the joys and anxieties of caring for a champion racehorse.
Over the course of her illustrious five-year career, Illusionist, a “classy bay mare” known to her owners as “Lusi,” had 140 starts in harness racing and earned over $1 million. Dave, the author’s husband, owned the horse since she was 3 years old. The book recounts the Ontario couple’s time spent at the track and the period following Lusi’s retirement from racing, when she became a broodmare. The timeline of the memoir is cleverly fractured, interspersing memories of Lusi’s race-day successes with her later battle to survive following a difficult C-section that left her and her new foal, Albert, fighting against tough odds. Lumsden’s former work in clinical practice allows her to describe each medical development in matter-of-fact detail while simultaneously relaying her worries as a compassionate caretaker. Candid in tenor, this work covers every aspect of Ontario’s standard-bred horse racing industry, discussing the “stress-free” methods adopted in training, relationships with co-owners, finances, and emotional strains. The author drip-feeds details of Lusi’s and Albert’s progress as the story develops, which makes for compelling reading as the audience roots for their recovery. Lumsden’s no-nonsense reporting of facts creates a sense of immediacy: “Time was of the essence. Intestinal strangulation and twisting meant a risk of bowel death and surgical removal.” This approach can also prove gruesome: “Blood-soaked gauze sheets and stainless-steel objects surrounding the pus-filled centre of the infection.” Her blunt delivery is tempered by moments of tender introspection, as when the author depicts an emotional breaking point: “I cried for the horses’ lives I could not control. I cried for my husband, who had done all he possibly could.” Lumsden also demonstrates an endearing descriptive style, particularly in her effortless use of similes—at one point, she describes a foal following its mother “like the tail of a kite.” A slight criticism would be that those unfamiliar with harness racing would have benefitted from an introduction that describes the sport. Illustrated with photographs from various sources throughout, this keenly observed memoir offers an insider view that will be of particular delight to fans of Illusionist.
A powerfully compelling and moving story of a remarkable racehorse.Pub Date: April 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5255-0125-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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