A stylish and substantial remembrance with poignantly memorable characterizations.
Sidoti, founder of the FLY Yoga School, reflects upon her path of healing and self-discovery after surviving childhood chaos and trauma.
The author, born in 1970, is the youngest of three sisters. Their father, Warren Drapkin, departed their Brooklyn townhouse and moved into an upstate Catskills cabin when Sidoti was a year old, leaving their mother, Babette, to raise the three girls on her own. Babette (frequently working three jobs to keep the family afloat) and her daughters were a combustible mix. “The second [Babette’s] home,” Sidoti writes, “she’s on edge—high-strung, agitated, dodgy like a chihuahua, small and nonintimidating but with a loud bark.” Lisa, the oldest, was the most volatile, constantly fighting with her mother, both verbally and physically. Middle sister Maddy was the most self-centered of the trio, and the author was the peacemaker who sought refuge from the fighting curled up among her mother’s collection of tall potted plants, humming quietly to herself. In the late 1970s, Babette’s mother, Grandma Elise, convinced her daughter to move the quartet to a West 15th Street loft in Manhattan, just blocks away from her own studio. The eccentric, thrice-married Elise, a poet and artist, now permanently settled down with American Poet Laureate Stanley Kuntz, provided the emotional support and guidance Sidoti lacked at home. Elise also introduced her to smoking—because women “…deserve to have something just for ourselves.” The author writes in the present tense, bringing readers directly into her life’s impactful moments, weaving a narrative around loving but difficult relationships with the people she cares about most. In lyrical, at times searing, prose, she captures her core loneliness. Her story is a riveting intergenerational tale of women doing the best they can, sometimes failing painfully. Her search for healing leads her to yoga (which occupies a bit too much of the memoir), meditation, and a bit of mysticism. Touchingly, her meditative chants recall her soothing childhood humming.
A stylish and substantial remembrance with poignantly memorable characterizations.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781647425098
Page Count: 304
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: May 7, 2023
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 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
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