At times trite and a tad portentous, the writing nonetheless reveals two sincere souls.
A Latino teenager and an old woman wrestle with angels and demons during a four-year friendship at the nursing home where she lives and he works.
There is poignancy and pain in this account by Kleinfield, a prize-winning reporter for the New York Times who observed firsthand a friendship he calls unlikely. The woman, nonagenarian Margaret Oliver, was a dressmaker and opera fan before she arrived at the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged. The young man, Elvis Checo, was a hip-hop fan from the Dominican Republic who’d found a job helping out at the home: pushing wheelchairs, talking with residents. Kleinfield obtained their permission to follow them around—in and out of the facility—and so this simple story emerged. There are no real high, lows, climaxes or conundrums. (Margaret does not die; Elvis does not subsequently go off to study geriatric medicine at Harvard.) Instead, the volume has the feel of a photo album with accompanying captions. We see Margaret in her room sharing jokes with Elvis and giving him gentle advice (have a plan in life, look out for number one). The two discuss Republicans (both hate the GOP) and rap music; Elvis tries to explain to her what a cell phone is. We also venture out into the mean streets with Elvis. He fathers a daughter with a woman he does not love (Margaret advises him to keep his distance from the mother); he visits his brother’s barber shop; he tries college; he hangs out with friends; he watches many cartoons; he writes dreadful rap lyrics, one of which he performs for Margaret, who asks: “You thought all that up yourself?” He battles a bad back, lassitude, stereotype.
At times trite and a tad portentous, the writing nonetheless reveals two sincere souls.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2005
ISBN: 0-8050-7580-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Times/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 2026 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.
