This beautifully written, frequently moving book is a crucial addition to the scholarship on Simone de Beauvoir.
A previously undiscovered cache of uncataloged letters prompts an examination of Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers.
“Nothing prepared me for the drama I found the first time I opened a folder of readers’ letters to [her],” writes Coffin about her discovery. In the letters, which are held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, in Paris, Coffin read about the experiences of men and women who “wanted to meet Beauvoir, to share their memories or to share in hers.” The letters are fascinating, but this scrupulously researched book does more than recount their content. Coffin asserts that “the ‘Simone de Beauvoir’ that we know would not exist without her readers’ formative role.” According to Coffin, the dynamic relationship between authors and readers does not flow in one direction. Beauvoir’s ideas may have deeply affected her readers, but her readers had a significant impact on her, as well. Beauvoir, the author reminds us, once wrote that “a book is a collective object: readers contribute as much as the author to its creation.” Indeed, writes Coffin, “these letters make us take that point seriously. They do not simply provide the context in which to better understand Beauvoir’s ideas.” Coffin provides even further context for the books and world events to which Beauvoir’s readers were responding, including The Second Sex, Beauvoir’s relationship with Sartre, France’s war with Algeria, and the legacy of World War II. The book is dense with ideas, but the clarity of Coffin’s prose makes her a genial guide. The highlight, though, is the letters themselves, which are eloquent, poignant, and often unassuming. “Everything you say in your memoirs I have felt; I would have liked to have been able to say it, but I explain myself very poorly,” one wrote. They did quite a bit better than that.
This beautifully written, frequently moving book is a crucial addition to the scholarship on Simone de Beauvoir.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5017-5054-0
Page Count: 334
Publisher: Cornell Univ.
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.
A carefully curated personal portrait.
First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781510782693
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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
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