An inspiring story and an invaluable resource for first-generation immigrant children striving for success in America.
The White House deputy director of Hispanic media for the Obama administration shares her story.
For Campoverdi, a women’s health care advocate and policy adviser, breaking a multigenerational cycle of poverty, domestic abuse, and limited education was “a radical act of healing.” In this memoir, she aims to correct the “sugar-coated, stereotypical narrative about social mobility and the American Dream.” After years of therapy for trauma-induced anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal thoughts, the author has learned to recognize symptoms and syndromes that she could not identify when she was growing up. Campoverdi maps out some of the emotional relationships in her family, especially the experiences of the women. “Three generations of women in my family had primarily been single mothers,” she writes. “Three generations of women in my family struggled to make ends meet….Three generations of women in my family had been in emotionally tumultuous relationships with chaotic men.” When she was younger, the author was drawn to rough, charismatic gang members, and she also bore significant emotional burdens for other family members, becoming “Parentified”—i.e., “enlisted into the role of family caretaker.” However, “acknowledging my own experience as a Parentified Child was never about pointing fingers or assigning blame,” she writes. “Parentification is rarely done with malicious intent, and in my case, I truly believe that everyone was doing the best they could with what they knew and had.” Campoverdi was a high achiever, and she earned degrees at USC and Harvard’s Kennedy School. Despite enormous debt, she was sure that her big-name education was “the single most powerful professional ‘validator’ I could earn.” Ultimately, the “breakaway guilt” of succeeding where her family did not humbled her, and she went on to great success in politics, health care activism, and documentary production. In this psychologically astute work, the author calls out her difficult childhood experiences in order to demonstrate how to overcome stigma and trauma.
An inspiring story and an invaluable resource for first-generation immigrant children striving for success in America.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781538757185
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
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
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A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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