A unique, empowering addition to LGBTQ+ literature.
Queer and trans activists describe their lives and work in this anthology of oral history and illustrated interviews.
Illustrator and comic artist Syan Rose calls her book "part graphic nonfiction, part thank-you note, part gay theory paper, [and] part activist gossip column." Each of the contributors grapples with universal questions of "power, desire, justice and accountability” as well as “structural & mental racism, transphobia, fatphobia, colonialism, ableism, xenophobia, antiblackness, [and] rape culture.” Selections include Caleb Luna and Nicole Arteaga’s "Reclaiming & Revolting Bodies: Fat: The Play,” Mirna Haidar’s "Queer Muslim Family,” and "Everything You Love About New Orleans Is Because of Black People,” a conversation with New Orleans visual artist Phlegm. We meet sex workers and their advocates, healing and health justice activists, trans women survivors, and queer martial artists. Herbal healer Geleni Fontaine describes "what it means to be in a transgressive body at a time when fat people are seen as diseased. There is a poignant section of reflections on the pandemic, including Ra Malika Imhotep's "A Praise Song for Sick Blk Wimmin," who "have been knowing something deep about this kind of embattled survival….When we talk about how Southern black folks face alarming ‘health disparities,’ we are saying that we are sick. And not because there is something inherently wrong with us, but because the world we’ve been given unto structurally & systematically disrupts our access to wellness.” The drawings throughout are exquisite, and while the swirling, hand-lettering is occasionally difficult to read, the book accomplishes its clear goal: visibility for the marginalized. As Stella, a member of the Trans Assistance Project, puts it, "It's not just for my own happiness, it's also because there are people who, just by seeing me, might be more kind to queer people in the future. Or if they are queer, they might feel less alone or come out sooner.”
A unique, empowering addition to LGBTQ+ literature.Pub Date: May 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-55152-815-1
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A solid work of investigation that, while treading well-covered ground, offers plenty of surprises.
An account of the last gasps of the Trump administration, completing a trilogy begun with Fear (2018) and Rage (2020).
One of Woodward and fellow Washington Post reporter Costa’s most memorable revelations comes right away: Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, calling his counterpart in Beijing to assure him that even after Jan. 6 and what Milley saw as an unmistakable attempt at a coup d’état, he would keep Trump from picking a war with China. This depiction has earned much attention on the talking-heads news channels, but more significant is its follow-up: Milley did so because he was concerned that Trump “might still be looking for what Milley called a ‘Reichstag moment.’ ” Milley emerges as a stalwart protector of the Constitution who constantly courted Trump’s ire and yet somehow survived without being fired. No less concerned about Trump’s erratic behavior was Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the House, who studied the psychiatric literature for a big takeaway: “Do not humiliate Trump in public. Humiliating a narcissist risked real danger, a frantic lashing out if he felt threatened or criticized.” Losing the 2020 election was one such humiliation, and Woodward and Costa closely track the trajectory of Trump’s reaction, from depression to howling rage to the stubborn belief that the election was rigged. There are a few other modest revelations in the book, including the fact that Trump loyalist William Barr warned him that the electorate didn’t like him. “They just think you’re a fucking asshole,” Barr told his boss. That was true enough, and the civil war that the authors recount among various offices in the White House and government reveals that Trump’s people were only ever tentatively his. All the same, the authors note, having drawn on scores of “deep background” interviews, Trump still has his base, still intends vengeance by way of a comeback, and still constitutes the peril of their title.
A solid work of investigation that, while treading well-covered ground, offers plenty of surprises.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-982182-91-5
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
IN THE NEWS
IN THE NEWS
SEEN & HEARD
The acclaimed author of My Own Country (1996) turns his gaze inward to a pair of crises that hit even closer to home than the AIDS epidemic of which he wrote previously. Verghese took a teaching position at Texas Tech’s medical school, and it’s his arrival in the unfamiliar city of El Paso that triggers the events of his second book (parts of which appeared in the New Yorker). His marriage, already on the rocks in My Own Country, has collapsed utterly and the couple agree to a separation. In a new job in a new city, he finds himself more alone than he has ever been. But he becomes acquainted with a charming fourth-year student on his rotation, David, a former professional tennis player from Australia. Verghese, an ardent amateur himself, begins to play regularly with David and the two become close friends, indeed deeply dependent on each other. Gradually, the younger man begins to confide in his teacher and friend. David has a secret, known to most of the other students and staff at the teaching hospital but not to the recently arrived Verghese; he is a recovering drug addict whose presence at Tech is only possible if he maintains a rigorous schedule of AA meetings and urine tests. When David relapses and his life begins to spiral out of control, Verghese finds himself drawn into the young man’s troubles. As in his previous book, Verghese distinguishes himself by virtue not only of tremendous writing skill—he has a talented diagnostician’s observant eye and a gift for description—but also by his great humanity and humility. Verghese manages to recount the story of the failure of his marriage without recriminations and with a remarkable evenhandedness. Likewise, he tells David’s story honestly and movingly. Although it runs down a little in the last 50 pages or so, this is a compulsively readable and painful book, a work of compassion and intelligence.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-06-017405-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1998
© 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.
