A rich and funny immigrant story.
In this fictionalized memoir, Raydun recounts her first year living in America as a post-Soviet tween.
New York, 1994: When 11-year-old Marina arrives in America for the first time, accompanied by her mother, father, and mostly blind grandmother, she’s nearly overwhelmed by the busyness of it all. Earlier emigrants greet them at the airport, a combination of strangers and people she barely remembers, and ferry them to her other grandmother’s Brooklyn apartment. Even the smells in America are unfamiliar, Marina observes as they arrive: “It’s not the odor of the stale urine that was the signature of my Soviet building lobby. No, this is more complex, but none of the ingredients are known to me. Maybe something between wet sneakers, moist cigarette ashes, and unfamiliar cooking.” The family now lives close to many relatives, but Marina’s favorite—her sister Slava—has stayed behind in Belarus. Before long, they have an apartment of their own, a third-floor unit with plenty of street noise, but at least Marina has a new stereo on which to play “concert” with her Michael Jackson tapes. There is also a television, though Marina is initially unsure of what she should watch. (The sitcom Family Matters, with Steve Urkel—Marina notes he has a “high-pitched voice and dresses in bright-colored, quirky clothes”—becomes a go-to due to its afternoon time slot.) At school, Marina discovers the wonders of American seventh grade, where she is excited not to be the only Jewish student. “Since I was the only Jew in my entire elementary school” in Belarus, she explains, “I was commonly accused of being a thief if anything in the classroom ever went missing.” It proves to be a year of misunderstandings, though whether the confusion is due to differences of language, culture, or simply being 11 years old, Marina is never sure. She can only hope that by the end of the year, her new home won’t seem quite so foreign.
Marina’s perspective, rooted in her youth, is used to great effect, as are those of her funny and direct relatives. She notes that, before leaving Belarus, her grandmother in New York had written to tell her to “make sure to get a haircut before coming over because haircuts in America are prohibitively expensive.” When her cousin’s husband tells her that in America there are 12 grades, Marina expresses shock, since there are only 11 in Belarus. “Seriously?” responds the cousin. “There were ten when I left.” At 430 pages, the book is a bit long for the story it has to tell; both the humor and Marina’s emotional arc would pop a bit better at half the length. That said, it is a remarkable document, both for its vivid details and the depth of character Raydun creates. Readers will feel like they are reading a work of coming-of-age fiction from a generation or two ago, one that captures the thrilling fright of discovery—not only of a new country, but also of a new time of life.
A rich and funny immigrant story.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9798988085904
Page Count: 446
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 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
SEEN & HEARD
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