A sophisticated and thought-provoking story of the emergence of a young writer.
Novelist and playwright Kasten, author of A Little Something for Everyone (2020),recounts her idyllic childhood and college career.
The author writes this remembrance in the third person, calling herself Annie Lang and changing other people’s names. As the book opens in 1950, the Langs have moved to an Iowa college town where Annie’s dad now works as a business manager at a university. Their three-story house and oversized backyard are full of natural and human-made wonders. Her parents are kind to each other and to their kids and never argue. They answer all questions posed to them, even embarrassing ones, in a matter-of-fact way. By virtue of being near the university, Annie immerses herself in a cultural wonderland and gets the lead roles in several plays at the institution. Years pass, and the young, self-styled intellectual enrolls at the small Carroll College, the “Harvard of the Midwest.” There, and in a study-abroad program in London,she grows as a writer and thinker and meets a lanky physics major who also likes classical music and the work of comedians Mike Nichols and Elaine May. As their relationship blossoms, the self-aware Annie wrestles with questions of sex, marriage, and morality. Kasten’s charming memoir, written in a series of engaging vignettes, effectively focuses on those moments, big and small, that mold a person into who they truly are. Her talent for succinct description is impressive throughout, as when she tells of loving a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, which inspired her to leap around her living room, “ending her performance by sinking like a fallen soufflé in the middle of the living room rug. She does not require an audience.” She similarly sketches other figures in her life in vivid, generous detail. Annie’s introspection carries the story as she debates rapidly evolving 1950s and ’60s norms and develops a greater sense of self. The work could have rallied a bit more enthusiasm toward its conclusion, but the overall richness of the account makes for gratifying reading.
A sophisticated and thought-provoking story of the emergence of a young writer.Pub Date: June 14, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 306
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2021
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
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
