An important if not always trenchant look at living with TS.
In his debut book, Evers, who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome, collects the gut-wrenching but ultimately uplifting stories of 17 others living with TS.
The narrators explore the challenges of living with a neurological disorder that causes a “soup” of movement tics, from eye-twitching, facial-grimacing, head-turning and shoulder-shrugging, and sometimes a mélange of sound tics—grunting, coughing, throat-clearing, barking, even yelling inappropriate words. Chelsea, a comedian and freelance television and video producer, describes a tic as “the most intense itch you’ve ever had, but the itch is in your brain.” Collectively, the real-life stories help dispel various myths and misconceptions about the disorder. For instance, popular belief has it that people with TS can control their tics if they really want to. Not true—they may be able to suppress their tics for a few hours or more, but ultimately, there are few if any preventive methods available. Meredith, 27, writes, “Once I get home, all bets are off. I begin ticking [sic] up a storm and let loose.” For many children and adolescents with TS, school is hell. Eighteen-year-old Johanna details vicious bullying that caused her to miss a hundred days of school in seventh grade. Some of those profiled were diagnosed with TS as children; others had no official diagnosis until they were much older. For many, the diagnosis was a relief: “Just happy it has a name,” nursing assistant Matthew explains. There’s no cure for TS, and most medications have little or no impact on stopping the tics. Many people with TS also contend with a host of other medical and psychological conditions, including OCD, ADHD, anxiety disorder and depression. In Evers’ attempt to cover a wide array of people and places, he may have overreached; some of the stories become repetitive, diminishing the collection’s overall educational and inspirational impact. Notably, people with TS bristle at the idea that they can’t lead active, productive lives. “TS is not what I represent,” writes 30-year-old Twiz. “I am also an artist, a learner, a worker, etc. It does not define me.”
An important if not always trenchant look at living with TS.Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1478299707
Page Count: 180
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Of great interest to Didion completists, though a minor entry in the body of her work.
The late novelist and journalist records her innermost, deeply personal struggles.
Didion died in 2021. Afterward, a file of private notes was discovered among her things, including notes addressed to her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, recounting sessions with the noted Freudian psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon, “a staunch defender of talk therapy.” Talk they do, with Didion serving up a battery of problems and MacKinnon offering wise if perhaps non-actionable responses to them, for instance, “Nothing about families turns out to be easy, does it.” It’s not easy, for sure, and Didion’s chief concern throughout is her daughter, Quintana Roo, who died after a long illness, the subject of Didion’s 2011 memoir Blue Nights. Indeed, so many of the conversations concern Quintana that Didion—by design, one supposes—skirts her own issues, although MacKinnon identifies some: “I did think you might have developed more self-awareness,” he says, referring to Didion’s habit of squirreling herself away whenever difficult subjects arose. Didion counters that she cherishes privacy, adding that she sometimes left her own parties to shelter in her office and admitting that her long habit of overwork was a means of emotional distancing. It’s not wholly that Didion lacks that self-awareness, but that the keenest insights about her come from others, as when she records, “I said a friend had once remarked that while most people she knew had very strong competent exteriors and were bowls of jelly inside, I was just the opposite.” That Didion was constantly anxious, sometimes to the point of needing medication, will come as no surprise to close readers of her work, but the depth of her anguish and guilt over her inability to save her daughter—she threw plenty of money at her, but little in the way of love—is both affecting and saddening.
Of great interest to Didion completists, though a minor entry in the body of her work.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9780593803677
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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