A spare account of a short life that will leave readers feeling both uplifted and emotionally drained.
A heart-wrenching graphic memoir about losing a child to a rare neurological disorder.
“This is not a story about grief,” writes Louis about his son’s battle with Tay-Sachs, an incurable disease. “It is just the story of a little boy who was only here for a short while. And what he was like. And what he meant to us.” There’s a fairy-tale sense of wonder to such narration, a balance of light and dark that matches the stars-and-space backdrop of Antal’s illustrations. With tonal command and a penchant for understatement, the author doesn’t pull any emotional punches, but neither does he wallow in tragedy. The artistry underscores the tone of the text, with whimsy and flights of fancy, whether soaring toward the stars or plunging into a dark night of the soul. “I knew there was something I needed to understand, and perhaps share, about my brief, intense, joyful, devastating parenting experience,” writes the author at the beginning. He chronicles his journey from initial indifference about parenting to the emotional richness and bonding of early parenthood to the terrible news that Ronan would not have long to live, a fact that ravaged his parents and their marriage. Yet there is joy and even redemption within the elliptical sparseness of the narration, and Antal’s illustrations reinforce the impact of the words and fill in some of the gaps. This is not a book narrowly focused on a readership of other parents facing such a rare disorder. Rather, Louis and Antal combine to create an impressive work that explores universal themes of mortality, parental love, selflessness, and resilience. “Being Ronan’s father was the greatest thing that ever happened to me,” writes the author. Readers will believe him wholeheartedly.
A spare account of a short life that will leave readers feeling both uplifted and emotionally drained.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-419-75108-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Abrams ComicArts
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
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 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A sweet-and-sour set of pieces on loss, absurdity, and places they intersect.
Sedaris remains stubbornly irreverent even in the face of pandemic lockdowns and social upheaval.
In his previous collection of original essays, Calypso (2018), the author was unusually downbeat, fixated on aging and the deaths of his mother and sister. There’s bad news in this book, too—most notably, the death of his problematic and seemingly indestructible father at 96—but Sedaris generally carries himself more lightly. On a trip to a gun range, he’s puzzled by boxer shorts with a holster feature, which he wishes were called “gunderpants.” He plays along with nursing-home staffers who, hearing a funnyman named David is on the premises, think he’s Dave Chappelle. He’s bemused by his sister Amy’s landing a new apartment to escape her territorial pet rabbit. On tour, he collects sheaves of off-color jokes and tales of sexual self-gratification gone wrong. His relationship with his partner, Hugh, remains contentious, but it’s mellowing. (“After thirty years, sleeping is the new having sex.”) Even more serious stuff rolls off him. Of Covid-19, he writes that “more than eight hundred thousand people have died to date, and I didn’t get to choose a one of them.” The author’s support of Black Lives Matter is tempered by his interest in the earnest conscientiousness of organizers ensuring everyone is fed and hydrated. (He refers to one such person as a “snacktivist.”) Such impolitic material, though, puts serious essays in sharper, more powerful relief. He recalls fending off the flirtations of a 12-year-old boy in France, frustrated by the language barrier and other factors that kept him from supporting a young gay man. His father’s death unlocks a crushing piece about dad’s inappropriate, sexualizing treatment of his children. For years—chronicled in many books—Sedaris labored to elude his father’s criticism. Even in death, though, it proves hard to escape or laugh off.
A sweet-and-sour set of pieces on loss, absurdity, and places they intersect.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-39245-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
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