A compelling and propulsive memoir that interrogates the nature of truth and trust.
An immersive look into how lies and misconstrued truths can capture the psyches of those willing to listen.
In this philosophical follow-up to her essay collection, Mine, New York Times Magazine contributor and creative writing instructor Viren chronicles two instances when the ramifications of lies nearly derailed her life. The author begins with her high school years, writing about her teacher Dr. Whiles, who challenged his classes. Whiles was revered by his students, including the author, as an all-knowing figure, someone you desperately wished to make proud with your work. That is, until he began teaching known conspiracies as truths, planting toxic seeds into the minds of impressionable students. In reflecting on her time in class, Viren writes that she was bothered by “the sense that it’s not just the individual facts that are wrong, it’s the whole premise. Yet no one else seems to be screaming, so I feel crazy for wanting to.” As the author was compiling research for this initial topic, she learned about anonymous sexual assault accusations made against her wife, Marta, a fellow professor. Now with a future job on the line and her wife’s reputation in jeopardy, Viren worked to dismantle the lies. “One story can easily interrupt another, just as questions build one atop the next,” she writes. “The past may mirror the present but the future also casts its shadow back on us.” Ruminating on these experiences, Viren investigates the wider concept of truth. Drawing from the work of Socrates, the author aligns her memoir around the allegory of the cave and what could happen if one discovers deeper truths beyond a manufactured reality. Throughout, Viren examines a wide range of relevant questions—e.g., What is the appropriate punishment for these lies, and how can someone move forward from this state of cognitive dissonance?
A compelling and propulsive memoir that interrogates the nature of truth and trust.Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781982166595
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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
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