Storyteller Klein lends a folksy flavor to these sweet, brief reminiscences, but in the end a childhood spent on Martha's Vineyard proves too similar to childhood everywhere. The title refers to the author's yearly ritual of making beachplum jelly with her German-born mother, an activity that calls up lots of metaphors (``Folks here on the island guard their beachplum locations with the fervor of pirates holding treasure maps'') but little plot; this and several other image-packed stories, like ``The Flying Horses'' (about the town's merry-go- round), would be perfect for reading aloud—and this book could appeal to young adults. The more personal and serious tales here are the most involving: ``Fanny'' is an Austrian friend of the family who arrives every summer and thrills the dreamy four-year- old Klein by talking to her of fear, love, and the universe; in ``Packages Home'' a visit from her German aunt drives home the urgent need for the care packages her mother has been sending back to Germany. The cutely named ``Negotiating the Narrows'' details her experiences of prejudice on the island, including being called a Nazi by schoolmates and having a family friend tell her not to hang around with a black boy. In a book of generally light themes, such stabs at political commentary stand out. But Klein's rationalization that she has learned ``to keep a perspective on the community as a whole, which I adore, without forgetting its imperfections'' rings false; integrating this material into the many cheery tales of making mischief with a childhood friend- -spotting nightcrawlers reproducing, shooting starlings with a BB gun and then cooking them for lunch, and so forth—might have given them more punch. Apparently, a ruby window works much like rose-colored glasses.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-87483-416-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: August House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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
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