The diary of a stroke from its frightening first symptoms to the successful return to a productive—but transformed—life. Klein is a former documentary filmmaker and an active feminist. On vacation with her doctor-husband, she began to have problems with balance, swallowing, and speaking. Her husband read the symptoms (correctly) as trouble in the brain stem but didn’t know the cause. They rushed through the night to his hospital in Montreal, the start of a four-month hospital stay that culminated in radical brain surgery on a congenital tangle of blood vessels in the brain stem that had finally begun to bleed. During most of that time, the author was what the doctors called “locked in,” conscious and aware, but unable to speak or move virtually anything but her eyes (through which she saw double). For a time, only her husband, and sometimes her teenage children, were able to fully understand what she needed. This book is a combination of her own memories and journal entries, plus interviews with her family, friends, and caretakers, some of whom were less than caring. Three years of intensive rehabilitation followed, including alternative therapies. She was able to finish a film and even promote it, but she also discovered that the world was not kind to the disabled. Finally accepting that she would never be physically as she was before, she made friends with an electric scooter dubbed Gladys, launched a radio show, and is an activist for the disabled. She credits friends, family, work, and the fact that her husband’s profession gave her a special edge in her recovery. Klein offers a straightforward and detailed account of her road back; her sharp observations on the obstacles facing disabled individuals (bathrooms are all important) are more effective advocacy than a more highly charged polemic might be. (For another account of a stroke, see Robert McCrum, My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke, p. 1092)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 1-879290-15-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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