Life aboard a Polaris missile submarine, a serious business most of the time.
The son of working-class British parents, Humphreys was bright enough to win a scholarship, but the experience of an English public school convinced him that a life of adventure trumped education. After an unsuccessful attempt at professional soccer and rejection from the French Foreign Legion at age 17, he joined the Royal Navy in 1985. Britain’s fleets no longer ruled the sea, but the country did possess four Polaris missile–firing nuclear submarines. Before beginning five years of service, Humphreys experienced basic training, which “is pretty consistent across the armed forces,” involving ceremony, interminable drills, draconian inspections, and staff dedicated “to making your life a misery.” Being fit and a veteran of public school bullying, he made it through mostly unscathed, and he delivers much wry commentary. Moving on, Humphreys delivers a vivid description of a profession that requires technical skill, obsessive multitasking (men routinely perform several jobs), and absolute absence of claustrophobia: He explains the unique experience of living in cramped quarters with 143 men breathing the same stale air during three month patrols away from sunlight and family. To avoid detection, missile submarines never “transmit sonically.” The author reminds readers that the Cold War hadn’t yet ended, and no one doubted that an order to fire missiles meant Armageddon. For the most part, readers will enjoy an expert account of nuclear submarine technology, operation, command structure, and culture. Regarding the last, the author describes how smoking was permitted, as was drinking to excess—although that was curbed after an intoxicated sailor murdered his captain in 2011. The humor often centers on bad smells and the overworked toilets. The author also includes a helpful diagram of the sub, an officer hierarchy, and a glossary.
An amusing addition to the rare genre of submariner memoirs. (b/w photos)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-335-99624-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Categories: HISTORICAL & MILITARY | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | MILITARY | UNITED STATES
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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 28, 2022
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The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
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The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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