An absorbing and suspenseful family remembrance.
In this richly detailed memoir, a woman revisits the murder of her mother more than half a century ago.
Campbell begins her story on the day of her mother Mary’s death: March 8, 1961, when she was 11 years old and her family lived in a farmhouse in Kent, Washington, just outside of Seattle. The first chapter moves through the day of the murder but stops short of the crime itself, leaving readers in suspense as the author traces her maternal and fraternal lines. What initially seems like a true-crime whodunit effectively becomes a history of settlement, hardship, and opportunity in the American West of the 19th and 20th centuries. Campbell goes on to meticulously sketch a family portrait, lingering with affection and reverence on her descriptions of her mother: “Mary was nick-named ‘Mary Sunshine’ by her sisters because every morning she would run to all the windows and pull back the curtains to let the warmth and light of the morning sun pour into the house.” The Campbell family moved frequently, and the author chronicles her father’s career trajectory, which culminated in a “top-paying job as an engineer at Boeing.” Religion is another steady theme, as the family belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is a key element of their identity; “I am a descendent of polygamy,” Campbell declares at one point. The author eventually picks up the pieces of her mother’s murder in a chapter entitled “March 8, 1961: Part II”; from there, the book turns into a police procedural and courtroom drama. The murderer is found, but unanswered questions linger to this day.
The author, who co-wrote this memoir with her cousin Stroschein, quite capably turns a story of family tragedy into a suspenseful narrative. Some of the early chapters get a bit bogged down by backstory, but the parts that focus on Mary, her immediate family, and the circumstances and aftermath of her death move along briskly. However, Campbell clearly has a goal beyond simply spinning a gripping yarn; she also seeks to memorialize her mother. In this regard, she’s successful, as Mary is vividly presented as a loving and playful presence. The prose is steady and efficient throughout, which makes the occasional moments of figurative language stand out, as when Campbell writes, “My mother’s death would leave a tear in my soul I could not heal.” She also includes her mother’s letters about another painful part of the family’s history: her father’s infidelity and her parents’ separation. Mary’s distinct voice comes through in these missives, allowing readers to see her even more clearly. At times, the book is tonally inconsistent, moving from genealogical study to murder mystery to loving homage. Campbell is irrevocably drawn to the central crime, which proves to be as strange and horrible as the first chapter promises. The revelations don’t disappoint, but a sense of closure and justice proves elusive. The inclusion of several of Mary’s drawings offers a poignant endnote.
An absorbing and suspenseful family remembrance.Pub Date: March 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-950294-02-2
Page Count: 242
Publisher: Elk River Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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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