Sublime writing brightens an unforgettable, harrowing personal account.
In this debut memoir, a woman chronicles her arduous years with a mother who was blind and abusive.
By the time Armento was born in 1941, her mother was completely blind. Corneal dystrophy, a rare eye disease, had gradually taken Alett’s eyesight. Despite her affliction, “Momma” doted on her young daughter and proved herself a skilled artist. But things changed after 5-year-old Armento and her baby sister Sharon’s Italian father had a frightening, bloody row with Momma and her lover. Dad left, and the family, including the girls’ new stepfather, moved from its Yonkers home to a lowly Miami trailer park. The author was Momma’s “seeing eye girl,” often taking charge of the family (with half brothers soon joining) when outside the home. Unfortunately, Momma soon began abusing Armento—kicking, biting, and pinching, according to the author. The ire Momma directed at Armento needed little to no provocation, and she laced her insults with Italian slurs. In 1950, successful corneal transplants gave Momma her eyesight back. Yet the resultant jubilation didn’t last long; the abuse continued, as Momma showed signs of paranoia with blatant fears of communists and the neighbors who bred “filthy chinchillas.” Home life was an endless burden for the author; the family rarely stayed anywhere for long. At one point, the clan lived in a car for 10 weeks. Armento remained loyal to Momma, notwithstanding the beatings. But college, a potential career, and freedom beckoned. In addition, the author made efforts to connect with the father who seemingly abandoned her and Sharon.
Armento’s indelible prose makes her somber memoir an engrossing read. She aptly relates the hardships she endured. Each morning at the bathroomless trailer, she emptied the overnight “poop-pot” at the park’s bathhouse. Later, she slowly developed an eating disorder at college. The author simply but effectively describes herself as two people: “Strong Beverly,” who excelled away from home (including in academics), and “Weak Beverly,” Momma’s victim who adamantly refused to fight back. Similarly, Momma showcased disparate personalities. She struggled to maintain a happier public persona in her 1953 appearance on the TV series This Is Your Life. Lucid details shine a light on a child’s complicated feelings for an abusive parent, with the narrative occasionally slipping into poetic stanzas: “Like the ebb and flow of the tide that full moon night, / Momma’s rage waxes and wanes / Over the many hours of the evening. / Just when I think she’s exhausted, / Her volatile power erupts once more.” Armento wisely centers her chronological story on her family, from her aloof stepfather (whom Momma also regularly beat) to beloved Sharon. The author moreover incorporates the history that unraveled around her. While Momma’s dread of communists had ties to the Red Scare, 20-something Armento was shaken by the news of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and saw copious examples of segregation in the United States. As it progresses, the memoir will have readers pondering the same things the author questioned for years, such as Momma’s vicious hatred of Armento and her father. But this memorable book, like the author herself, doesn’t have all the answers.
Sublime writing brightens an unforgettable, harrowing personal account.Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64742-391-9
Page Count: 281
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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