A disturbing and compelling tale of resilience, determination, and musical passion.
Whitman, an accomplished flutist, shares her struggles to overcome abuse from male authority figures to establish her career in the cutthroat world of classical music.
Born in 1946, the author grew up in Atlanta in the shadow of the older sister she idolized, Melinda. Four years Whitman’s senior, Melinda was the family’s overachieving superstar. Whitman spent her childhood and early adulthood seeking the same approbation from her father that he showered upon Melinda. Per the author, his cruel dismissiveness regarding her many accomplishments and her career aspirations in classical music instilled in her an insecurity that would be reinforced by the abusive behavior of a series of men she trusted. Her friend Anne encouraged her to join the junior high school band with her, where both of them could learn to play the flute. It was a turning point in Whitman’s life; the flute spoke to her soul. In eighth grade, she began taking private flute lessons with the perpetually scowling high school band conductor Warren Little, considered to be Atlanta’s best flutist. To her surprise, he was warmly supportive during their private lessons. Thus began “the quick transformation of Mr. Little from strange band director to beloved teacher and father figure.” In 1966, while in her sophomore year at Emory University (where her father was a tenured professor), Whitman was invited to audition for, and was offered, the position of second flute in the prestigious Atlanta Symphony, becoming its youngest full-time member. It was a major professional achievement that would simultaneously present one of the greatest psychological challenges of her young life. The acclaimed Little was the Atlanta Symphony’s first flutist, sitting next to her in the orchestra. The author describes an inexplicable transformation from Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde, reporting that Little spent five years denigrating her performance, grimacing, and threatening to have her fired. Several years later, after leaving Atlanta, she sought counseling from a Freudian psychoanalyst in training, who, Whitman asserts, betrayed her trust and his professional ethics. After an especially egregious therapy session, she made her second attempt at suicide.
Classical music forms the structure and provides the energy for this beautifully composed and occasionally heart-wrenching memoir. The author’s passion for the subtleties and mechanical complexities of great orchestral productions flows from her pages. Although the copious minutiae about individual pieces and conductors will be best appreciated by those already well versed in orchestral music, there are passages here that soar, and even the uninitiated (whose eyes may occasionally glaze over a bit) are likely to be intrigued by this behind-the-curtain portrait of the highly competitive classical music arena. Engaging details concerning pitch, range, and techniques of mastering the flute are descriptive enough to fine-tune the attention of the most casual concert attendees. There are incidents in this personal saga that would qualify for inclusion in any compendium of “Me Too” accounts; still, this is a robust story of remarkable perseverance and success in the face of many obstacles.
A disturbing and compelling tale of resilience, determination, and musical passion.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781647427320
Page Count: 344
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 8, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
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