Well-written and well-paced, but may have limited appeal.
A memoir of two years in the life of a slightly muddled collegiate who sought clarity by traveling the world on a shoestring budget.
Like so many students nearing the end of their undergraduate studies, Friedman (Literature/John Jay Coll.) had no idea of what would come next. In an attempt to resolve her confusion, she set out for Ireland the summer before her senior year. Wheeling a massively overpacked red suitcase behind her, Friedman settled into a bohemian lifestyle of waitressing, bartending, drinking and dancing in Galway and beyond. An Australian housemate named Carly became the “wise life guide” who showed Friedman the virtues of traveling—and living—without a set plan. A year later, newly graduated from college and as unwilling as ever to settle down, the author gratefully accepted an invitation from Carly to visit her in Sydney. After living, working and traveling around Australia for a few months, Friedman and the ever-restless Carly headed to South America. The two “trapezed” their way across Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, negotiating dodgy accommodations, thieves, dangerous roadways, altitude sickness and food poisoning. Along the way, Friedman discovered that “people and places and experience” were far more important than possessions and that the present moment should be celebrated. Watching the narrator evolve from a fearful, immature young woman into a take-charge traveler is a pleasure, but the author’s insights tend toward the disappointingly banal.
Well-written and well-paced, but may have limited appeal.Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-34337-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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