An energetic, candid remembrance of the compelling moments that shape a young reporter’s career.
An American in Europe plans an overland trip to India to kick-start a career in journalism in this travel memoir.
Buck’s (East, 2013, etc.) colorful autobiography serves as a sequel to her previous book and begins in 1972 as she returns to Germany after a memorable trek to Nepal. She stayed with a friend in West Berlin, an island inside of Soviet East Germany. From the elevated train, she could see the entire city, and on the platforms were intimidating East German guards. Nonetheless, she enjoyed her new friends in the metropolis and the vibrant student community. After a particularly cold winter, she secured a teaching job at an American military base in southern Germany, but her wanderlust still ran strong. Intrigued by the peaceful nature of Swedish society, she soon found herself in Stockholm and got a marvelous introduction to Scandinavian culture. Unfortunately, she could only secure menial work, though somehow she studied free at the university. It hadn’t been that long since she returned from Asia, but she realized that “sometimes a new journey begins when we least expect it.” Deciding on a future as a journalist, she threw a camera and an old Olivetti typewriter into her knapsack and set off for a return trip to India to learn about child care practices in Asia. She traveled in a VW bus driven by a man named Jürgen, and their destination was Gandhi’s ashram and, later, Goa. She was seeking to observe and report and maybe promote some cross-cultural understanding, unaware of how difficult the trip would be physically and of the looming political crisis about to grip India. As a follow-up, Buck’s journey is never a dull one, as she hops around Europe and Asia, discovering such wonders as a youth hostel on a ship in Sweden and mirrored cloth and tie-dye skirts in Rajasthan. The sights and sounds are impressive (at one point, she and Jürgen drive over the Khyber Pass), and her resourcefulness and knowledge are invaluable when traveling with limited funds. The quest to begin journalistic work evolves slowly, sometimes taking a back seat to health and travel issues. But the effort to understand other cultures with an eye toward women’s rights is vividly described.
An energetic, candid remembrance of the compelling moments that shape a young reporter’s career.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-73352-200-7
Page Count: 261
Publisher: WriteWords Press
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
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