A fond remembrance of Leonard Nimoy by one who knew him like no other.
In the original Star Trek series, Mr. Spock’s contemplative temperament was balanced by Capt. Kirk’s emotive and physical nature. Now it’s the captain’s turn to reflect.
It’s hard to believe that an entertainment franchise consisting of five distinct TV series, 12 feature films, numerous comics and novels, an animated series, fanzines, conventions, and a huge worldwide fan base began with an underfunded TV series that only ran for three seasons (1966-1969) before being cancelled by the network for its unprofitability. This year marks the 50th year since the franchise’s birth, and the crew of the Enterprise continues to go where no man has gone before. Though the fabled starship has had many actors at its helm, the original portrayals of Kirk and Spock remain iconic. Shatner (Shatner Rules, 2011, etc.), who will celebrate his 85th birthday in March, memorializes his esteemed co-star in a memoir that spans the half-century of the two actors’ friendship and, with the input of others who knew Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) well, beyond. From Nimoy’s early years in Los Angeles scrounging for bit roles in TV to the late actor’s charitable support of Zachary Quinto in his 2009 reprisal of the role of Spock, Shatner describes his friend as a serious artist who constantly honed his craft. Though the actors eventually formed a strong bond, Shatner humbly recalls bags of fan mail arriving in the first weeks of Star Trek’s popularity and the jealousy that he felt that the most beloved character on the show was Spock. Fans will devour anecdotes surrounding the making of the series and its posthumous surge in popularity, but Shatner takes readers behind the nonemotive Vulcan visage to reveal the poet, photographer, devoted stage actor, recovering alcoholic, and formidable listener who was his friend.
A fond remembrance of Leonard Nimoy by one who knew him like no other.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-08331-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
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
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