This spiritual leader–as-superhero take is a middle-of-the-road retelling of the inception of the Middle Way.
In the city of Kapilavastu, seat of power for the Shakya clan, the queen has a dream that presages the birth of her child, destined to be a great holy man or a great king.
When the baby is born (and the queen dies), his father, Suddhodana, decides to shield his son from the negative forces of the world. Prince Siddhartha sees no sickness, aged infirmity, or death until near the birth of his own son. When he does see the suffering of his people, the prince renounces his crown, life of luxury, and his newborn son; he sets out to be a bhikshu (a monk) to try to find a solution to suffering. He’s tempted by the demon Mara and works through the dharma of several teachers before reaching enlightenment and devising a dharma of his own: that of the Middle Way, the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path. Then he takes his teachings to the world. Moore retells the life of Siddhartha from birth to death fairly straightforwardly, and the tale is adequately illustrated in graphic panels by Indian artist Nagulakonda, though his ancient India is largely populated by muscly, pale-skinned guys. Previous incarnations of the Buddha alluded to in the prelude are not explained, and the retelling as a whole is not particularly detailed, nor are there any historical notes.
This spiritual leader–as-superhero take is a middle-of-the-road retelling of the inception of the Middle Way. (Graphic biography. 14-18)Pub Date: July 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-93-81182-29-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Campfire
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.
Full-immersion journalist Kidder (Home Town, 1999, etc.) tries valiantly to keep up with a front-line, muddy-and-bloody general in the war against infectious disease in Haiti and elsewhere.
The author occasionally confesses to weariness in this gripping account—and why not? Paul Farmer, who has an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Harvard, appears to be almost preternaturally intelligent, productive, energetic, and devoted to his causes. So trotting alongside him up Haitian hills, through international airports and Siberian prisons and Cuban clinics, may be beyond the capacity of a mere mortal. Kidder begins with a swift account of his first meeting with Farmer in Haiti while working on a story about American soldiers, then describes his initial visit to the doctor’s clinic, where the journalist felt he’d “encountered a miracle.” Employing guile, grit, grins, and gifts from generous donors (especially Boston contractor Tom White), Farmer has created an oasis in Haiti where TB and AIDS meet their Waterloos. The doctor has an astonishing rapport with his patients and often travels by foot for hours over difficult terrain to treat them in their dwellings (“houses” would be far too grand a word). Kidder pauses to fill in Farmer’s amazing biography: his childhood in an eccentric family sounds like something from The Mosquito Coast; a love affair with Roald Dahl’s daughter ended amicably; his marriage to a Haitian anthropologist produced a daughter whom he sees infrequently thanks to his frenetic schedule. While studying at Duke and Harvard, Kidder writes, Farmer became obsessed with public health issues; even before he’d finished his degrees he was spending much of his time in Haiti establishing the clinic that would give him both immense personal satisfaction and unsurpassed credibility in the medical worlds he hopes to influence.
Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2003
ISBN: 0-375-50616-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
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