A simple but affecting memoir of one mother's tragedies and triumphs in the age of AIDS, written with the help fo Dworkin, a former editor of Ms. magazine. White, whose son Ryan became the center of a controversy concerning AIDS, begins her journey into the devastating world of parenting an ill child by learning to cope with the demands of her newborn son's hemophilia. This is challenge enough for any parent, but when Ryan is diagnosed with AIDS in late 1984, White's trials take on far deeper dimensions. What makes this memoir particularly worthwhile is the author's account of the impact of Ryan's illness on her and those around her. Ryan's father is unable to cope, and the couple eventually divorce. Ryan's sister avoids all reporters, even when her brother becomes a media star. Neighbors and friends shun the boy and his family, resorting to legal action to keep him out of the classroom. When Ryan does get back to school, he is taunted with cries of ``faggot'' and is isolated. Reporters sympathetic to her son receive death threats. Yet White prevails. Although she has grown up in a community that views homosexuals as sinners, she comes to see them not as transgressors but as her allies. And never does White lose her faith in God. Instead of perceiving her son's illness as a punishment, she sees it as a test. She writes, ``I felt that handling the tests that life brought you was how you worked your way into Heaven.'' The book cannot be considered a treatment of your typical child victim of AIDS, as Ryan was lavishly attended to by the likes of Michael Jackson and Elton John (whose names are dropped all too often). Nonetheless, this is a fine tribute, on the seventh anniversary of his death, from a mother to a son whose spirit touched the world. (First printing of 40,000; author tour)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-380-97328-6
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
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
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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