A wide-ranging, humorous, often sharp collection.
First English translation of a collection by the prominent Chinese intellectual.
These essays, which Wang Xiaobo (1952-1997) wrote during the 1990s, cover a range of topics, from literature to sexuality to food. What binds them is a concern for the value of an examined life and a wry awareness of the diverse ways in which humans fail to reap the rewards of thinking deeply. “Stupidity is the worst sort of misery, diminishing the intellectual capacity of mankind is the worst sort of atrocity,” writes the author. “To teach ignorance is the worst crime committed by otherwise good people.” Wang is consistently insightful and often charming in his commentary, particularly in his consideration of the logic of censorship, the consequences of intellectual confinement, and the importance of individual resistance to tyranny. Most vivid are the descriptions of Chinese social relations at home and in expatriate communities in America. An essay on village culture memorably describes how information flows are managed by “aunties and grannies [who] are the deities of the earth, an omniscient network.” Another documents the popularity of inane health practices such as arm-shaking and transfusions of chicken blood. The author also conveys in searing detail the soul-crushing demands of the Chinese American restaurant industry, which the author came to know firsthand. Alongside philosophical reflections, the author provides numerous sketches of quirky characters. One highlight is the extended description of an aged, lonesome American farmer, nicknamed Old Lady Wolf, who attempts to teach Wang conversational English by having him recite Milton’s poetry. Less successful are the essays devoted to feminism and homosexuality, which can seem both platitudinous and antiquated in their approaches. Nevertheless, Wang offers an illuminating window on life in China—and Western life seen through the eyes of a Chinese traveler—at the end of the 20th century.
A wide-ranging, humorous, often sharp collection.Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781662601255
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Astra House
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Memories and life lessons inspired by the author’s mother, who was murdered in 2021.
“Neither my mother nor I knew that her last text to me would be the words ‘Think you’ll be happy,’ ” Avant writes, "but it is fitting that she left me with a mantra for resiliency.” The author, a filmmaker and former U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas, begins her first book on the night she learned her mother, Jacqueline Avant, had been fatally shot during a home invasion. “One of my first thoughts,” she writes, “was, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me hate this man. Give me the strength not to hate him.’ ” Daughter of Clarence Avant, known as the “Black Godfather” due to his work as a pioneering music executive, the author describes growing up “in a house that had a revolving door of famous people,” from Ella Fitzgerald to Muhammad Ali. “I don’t take for granted anything I have achieved in my life as a Black American woman,” writes Avant. “And I recognize my unique upbringing…..I was taught to honor our past and pay forward our fruits.” The book, which is occasionally repetitive, includes tributes to her mother from figures like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, but the narrative core is the author’s direct, faith-based, unwaveringly positive messages to readers—e.g., “I don’t want to carry the sadness and anger I have toward the man who did this to my mother…so I’m worshiping God amid the worst storm imaginable”; "Success and feeling good are contagious. I’m all about positive contagious vibrations!” Avant frequently quotes Bible verses, and the bulk of the text reflects the spirit of her daily prayer “that everything is in divine order.” Imploring readers to practice proactive behavior, she writes, “We have to always find the blessing, to be the blessing.”
Some of Avant’s mantras are overstated, but her book is magnanimous, inspiring, and relentlessly optimistic.Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9780063304413
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperOne
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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