A thoughtful, winding reflection that gently challenges readers to recognize the patterns of their own lives.
Visual artist and professional nurse Gaydos observes major and minor moments from her life through the lens of spirituality and art.
The author, who grew up in the 1950s, approaches her memoir with the eye of a painter, “layering memories and reflections over character” in the same way that artists paint new images over old. In her account, memories connect to other memories, from mid-1980s Texas to early-1990s Colorado and beyond, and from adulthood to childhood and back again; her commentary on all these events is made richer by hindsight. Gaydos walks readers through a host of extraordinary and mundane moments, from a deeply transformational 10-day retreat to a Navajo reservation in the late 1980s to quiet reflections on the wonder of the Colorado landscape in 1992: “The sheer immensity of it emphasizes my insignificance, and yet I feel exalted, grateful. I am part and parcel of the magnificent wonder before me. Moving through this motionless moment, there is no distance of time or space between me and this astonishing spectacle.” Included in each chapter are images of Gaydos’ collages, based on the ancient technique of papier collé, in which pieces of paper are glued together to form a picture. The works, with their bold colors and muted, blurred images, each represent specific memories. Gaydos’ eloquent and warm narrative voice will encourage many readers to reflect on their own life experiences. Her self-professed influences are wide and varied, from Carl Jung to Joseph Campbell, and they seem to inspire her to fearlessly try new things, as when she tells of taking a trip in 1991 from Texas to the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, to attend a weeklong workshop led by a “well-known Russian iconographer.” As one reads of her boldness and pensiveness, one gets an engaging view into the author’s mind. Philosophy and spirituality seem to be the guiding lights in her life, but her observations encompass many other fields, as well.
A thoughtful, winding reflection that gently challenges readers to recognize the patterns of their own lives.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9798891322226
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.
Documenting perilous times.
In his most recent behind-the-scenes account of political power and how it is wielded, Woodward synthesizes several narrative strands, from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel to the 2024 presidential campaign. Woodward’s clear, gripping storytelling benefits from his legendary access to prominent figures and a structure of propulsive chapters. The run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is tense (if occasionally repetitive), as a cast of geopolitical insiders try to divine Vladimir Putin’s intent: “Doubt among allies, the public and among Ukrainians meant valuable time and space for Putin to maneuver.” Against this backdrop, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham implores Donald Trump to run again, notwithstanding the former president’s denial of his 2020 defeat. This provides unwelcome distraction for President Biden, portrayed as a thoughtful, compassionate lifetime politico who could not outrace time, as demonstrated in the June 2024 debate. Throughout, Trump’s prevarications and his supporters’ cynicism provide an unsettling counterpoint to warnings provided by everyone from former Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley to Vice President Kamala Harris, who calls a second Trump term a likely “death knell for American democracy.” The author’s ambitious scope shows him at the top of his capabilities. He concludes with these unsettling words: “Based on my reporting, Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security—both during his presidency and afterward.”
An engrossing and ominous chronicle, told by a master of the form.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668052273
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
IN THE NEWS
PERSPECTIVES
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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