Exotic, but not engaging.
A lackluster account of an unusual childhood.
Kuegler’s parents were missionaries, and she spent most of her childhood in a remote jungle with the Fayu tribe of Papua, New Guinea. The first three-quarters of this book describes Kuegler’s youth. Her parents quickly earned the respect of the Fayu, and Kuegler and her two siblings made friends. They were well-educated by her mother, but had lots of time to play. Even the lack of hospitals and doctors didn’t trouble the Kueglers: Malaria was a “constant companion,” but, for the most part, Kuegler’s mother could handle all medical crises. The book’s narrative tension—insofar as there is any—comes when the author returns to the West, first for a lengthy stay with her family, and then, as a young woman, alone. Kuegler had no memory of Germany, and she found her first extended visit there confusing and overwhelming. The children were especially perplexed by the seemingly endless food supply. When she returned to Europe as a teenager, things were even more complex. She attended a boarding school in Switzerland, where she had Western friends for the first time. Her new companions taught her to shop and flirt, and helped her style her hair. She also discovered sex, and shortly after graduating, found herself pregnant. The memoir’s last dozen pages are exceedingly unsatisfying: Kuegler summarizes her pregnancy, her first failed marriage, a suicide attempt and a spiritual epiphany. In short, Kuegler describes her childhood in idyllic terms, but rushes over the really interesting conflict: her struggle as an adult to adjust to the West. The prose is elementary, even plodding—there’s nothing lyrical here, and at times, it feels like an account of childhood written for children.
Exotic, but not engaging.Pub Date: March 2, 2007
ISBN: 0-446-57906-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2006
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
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
