A sturdy narrative of one woman’s awakening and strength in the early 20th century as she witnessed the vast societal...
The biography of an Indian royal princess, born in Britain, who found a higher purpose as she discovered her heritage.
BBC radio and TV journalist Anand devotes the first part of the book to a brief, comprehensive look at the history of the Raj in India. The story begins with the deposition of 11-year-old Maharajah Duleep Singh from his throne in the vast Punjab, where Hindus and Muslims peacefully shared common language and culture. Duleep became Queen Victoria’s favorite, and his life in exile was extremely comfortable. In fact, royal favor allowed Duleep to live far beyond his means, gambling and incurring massive debts. Years of letters from him and his children demanding government support indicate just how well these displaced royals were treated. Princess Sophia (1876-1948), his youngest and Victoria’s godchild, led an enchanted life after being born in exile in England; her quiet charm and designation as a royal princess ensured primary status at all events. She and her siblings had no real feeling for India until Sophia’s sister coaxed her into visiting their homeland. Being exposed to such poverty and deprivation drove her to reject her life as a socialite and seek those who needed protection. At first, her work on behalf of the lascars, Indian dockworkers in London, satisfied that need, and she helped build a safe haven for them. Eventually, Sophia awoke to the women’s suffrage movement and found her voice. She dedicated her name and status to the movement, joining in census and tax resistance, and she marched next to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, daring authorities to arrest her as she fearlessly demanded women’s rights.
A sturdy narrative of one woman’s awakening and strength in the early 20th century as she witnessed the vast societal changes in India and England.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1408835456
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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