A highly readable and sagacious account of overcoming obstacles and building success.
A successful businessman decides to sell his company and discovers that he has cancer in this debut memoir by McIntyre.
The author was planning to turn over the sales and marketing business he had built over 30 years when he noticed a lump on the side of his neck. He was told that it was probably a clogged saliva gland and prescribed antibiotics. Thinking little of it, he boarded a plane in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, to meet with a potential buyer in Baltimore. The transaction progressed quickly after his visit to Maryland, but the lump swelled to the size of an orange. Following investigatory surgery in 2010, McIntyre learned that he had cancer at the base of his tongue that had spread to the tonsillar glandular area in his left throat. He was told the prognosis was “good,” which, as a dedicated businessman, led him to consider which should come first: the sale of his business or his cancer treatment. The author tells the story of both major life events simultaneously. The memoir recounts how McIntyre made his name in the foodservice industry working for RJR Foods in Winston-Salem, where he was in charge of sales for half the country, before relocating to Charlotte in 1979 and setting up his own company. The resultant food-service sales and marketing agency, McIntyreSales, grew to represent the likes of Nestlé and Smucker’s. The author reveals how his battle with cancer and letting go of the business changed him over the course of what turned out to be a profoundly spiritual journey. He also discusses his efforts to help others, such as his work with the homeless and destitute in both Charlotte and El Salvador.
In the opening to his memoir, McIntyre writes, “I’ve never done anything remarkable, nothing different from what you would have done if you were me.” This sense of humility, which is present throughout, makes the author’s story approachable and appealing. The author never crows about his successes, either in business or his battle against cancer; instead, he is eager to use his experiences to advise others. His go-getter assertiveness naturally shines through at times: Regarding an occasion in which he turned up at his doctor’s office without an appointment when the lump did not improve, he writes plainly, “Because sometimes you don’t call, you go.” This polite pushiness should inspire others to be proactive about their health care when they believe something is gravely wrong. McIntyre’s writing also has a quietly meditative quality, charged with warmth and wisdom: “I knew I was simply one of the billions of people on earth, connected to this place, to Joyce and my family. I was complete. I didn’t need to do anything but be in this moment.” Reading the text feels similar to sitting down with a wise old friend—one who will offer business advice but also encouragement to see the bigger picture. The author’s business successes are compelling and his cancer struggle is courageous, but what truly makes this memoir stand out are the memorable nuggets of wisdom that McIntyre imparts: Recognizing opportunities for growth even in the most difficult of circumstances, McIntyre writes, “It’s hard times that shape people and companies.”
A highly readable and sagacious account of overcoming obstacles and building success.Pub Date: March 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781088082805
Page Count: 394
Publisher: Tall Clover Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© 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.
