Cheerful, more thoughtful than most reminiscences, and quite enjoyable.
In this debut memoir, a songwriter and performer recalls a year of his childhood when friendship, imagination, and adventure combined perfectly, leaving an indelible impression on the author’s soul.
In 1977, Elliott was 10 years old. His family had just moved to Starmount Drive in Tallahassee, Florida, where his father was studying for his Ph.D. Jim Maples, who lived up the embankment next door, became the author’s instant best friend. Within that first week, the “herd” had formed: “Jim and John Maples; Matt, Tommy, and Timmy Stege; Matt Bourgeois; Joey Fearnside; and I.” Their ages ranged from 8 to 10, and they were held together by a love of fishing, the freedom to explore their swampy surroundings, and total loyalty to one another: “We regularly confided in one another with a litany of unproven truths wrapped in heartfelt sincerity. When you are ten, you can speak of Bigfoot, aliens, magic, falling stars, and forever friendship without the worry of ridicule, judgment, or even a hint of disbelief.” Their favorite fishing hole was Alligator Pond, complete with two resident gators and a variety of poisonous snakes. Summer days and year-round weekends were devoted to trekking through the woods, building rickety rafts, riding an assortment of pedal-propelled vehicles, playing backyard football, and getting into all manner of trouble bordering on danger that young boys can conjure when they are just out of range of parental supervision. Elliott’s graceful prose is filled with the philosophical musings that come with the passage of four decades: “My life on Starmount is still my best evidence that to be a truly protective and nurturing parent, you must be able to let go, and to do so beyond the high walls and latched doors.” And the joyful book is permeated with gentle humor that brings to life the exuberance of youth: “Let me tell you, you haven’t heard a true Big Fish tale until you’ve heard triumphant ten-years-olds talk about the alligator that got away.” But readers who are terrified of snakes may want to skip a few paragraphs here and there; the slithering critters appear a bit frequently.
Cheerful, more thoughtful than most reminiscences, and quite enjoyable.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Kurti Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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