Tag Archives: memoir
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card
Young Adult Nonfiction
Knopf Books for Young Readers
2018
288
In San Jose, California, in the 1990s, teenaged Sara keeps a diary of life as an Iranian American and her discovery that she and her family entered as undocumented immigrants.
Review:
I can’t sing the praises of this book enough. It’s written so that it feels like you’re listening to your friend tell you a story filled with humor and emotion. I learned so much about the immigration process and all of the pitfalls that can happen to families looking for safety and a better life. At this time, it is the perfect book for young and old alike. Let’s start trying to understand one another better. Highly recommended!
This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
Death Need Not Be Fatal
Biography & Autobiography
Center Street
May 16, 2017
272
Before he runs out of time, Irish bon vivant MALACHY MCCOURT shares his views on death - sometimes hilarious and often poignant - and on what will or won't happen after his last breath is drawn. During the course of his life, Malachy McCourt practically invented the single's bar; was a pioneer in talk radio, a soap opera star, a best-selling author; a gold smuggler, a political activist, and a candidate for governor of the state of New York. It seems that the only two things he hasn't done are stick his head into a lion's mouth and die. Since he is allergic to cats, he decided to write about the great hereafter and answer the question on most minds: What's so great about it anyhow? In Death Need Not Be Fatal, McCourt also trains a sober eye on the tragedies that have shaped his life: the deaths of his sister and twin brothers; the real story behind Angela's famous ashes; and a poignant account of the death of the man who left his mother, brothers, and him to nearly die in squalor. McCourt writes with deep emotion of the staggering losses of all three of his brothers, Frank, Mike, and Alphie. In his inimitable way, McCourt takes the grim reaper by the lapels and shakes the truth out of him. As he rides the final blocks on his Rascal scooter, he looks too at the prospect of his own demise with emotional clarity and insight. In this beautifully rendered memoir, McCourt shows us how to live life to its fullest, how to grow old without acting old, and how to die without regret.
Review:
Words cannot even begin to describe how much I adore Malachy McCourt. First introduced to him through my all-time favorite book, “Angela’s Ashes,” it’s been a wonderful journey learning more about him through his own works. This is a bittersweet novel about death that evokes both tears and a lot of laughter. It’s a memory of a life well-lived. He is the last of the McCourt boys and I hope he is with us all for many years to come. No matter what, it is good to know that he is at peace with death and not afraid. I only wish I could be so brave. Highly recommended.
This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.
Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat
Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat
Ballantine Books
October 13, 2015
Hardcover
224
For fans of Laurie Notaro and Jenny Lawson comes an uproarious and oddly endearing essay collection for anyone trying to survive the holidays in one piece.
When it comes to time-honored holiday traditions, Jen Mann pulls no punches
In this hilariously irreverent collection of essays, Jen Mann, nationally bestselling author of People I Want to Punch in the Throat, turns her mordant wit on the holidays. On Mann’s naughty list: mothers who go way overboard with their Elf on the Shelf, overzealous carolers who can’t take a hint, and people who write their Christmas cards in the third person (“Joyce is enjoying Bunko. Yeah, Joyce, we know you wrote this letter.”). And on her nice list . . . well, she’s working on that one. Here, no celebration is off-limits. The essays include:
• You Can Keep Your Cookies, I’m Just Here for the Booze
• Nice Halloween Costume. Was Skank Sold Out?
• Why You Won’t Be Invited to Our Chinese New Year Party
From hosting an ill-fated Chinese New Year party, to receiving horrible gifts from her husband on Mother’s Day, to reluctantly telling her son the truth about the Easter Bunny, Mann knows the challenge of navigating the holidays while keeping her sanity intact. And even if she can’t get out of attending another Christmas cookie exchange, at least she can try again next year.
Review:
“Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat” is a memoir in essays about Christmas and other holidays. It will make you laugh, cry, cringe, feel sorry for the author, and ultimately, make you feel nostalgia.
Most of the stories had me actually laughing out loud. Some of them made me snort. Quite a few of them left me wondering if we may be related. The point is: We have all been in her shoes, and we have also all been in the shoes of one of the other poor souls. No holiday is perfect, but it’s the funny stories of things gone that leave us longing for more. It’s this very fact that makes the book much more than a collection of funny stories. It has heart, and it is bound to touch the hearts of everyone with a fondness for holidays and families, in spite of all of the hassle they bring.
“Spending the Holidays with People I Want to Punch in the Throat” is well-written and a quick read. Sitting down with it will be a perfect break from the upcoming holiday rush. Also, it will make a great not-so-subtle gift for all of the “holiday overachievers” in your life. (Watch me get three copies.)
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves
I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves
Simon and Schuster
June 2, 2015
Paperback
208
This hilarious part-memoir, part-manifesto reveals what sets apart the latest generation of young people coming of age in an all-wired, overeducated, and underemployed world.
People are obsessed with Ryan O’Connell’s blogs. With tens of thousands reading his pieces on Thought Catalog and Vice, watching his videos on YouTube, and hanging on to each and every #dark tweet, Ryan has established himself as a unique young voice who’s not afraid to dole out some real talk. He’s that candid, snarky friend you consult when you fear you’re spending too much time falling down virtual k-holes stalking your ex on Facebook or when you’ve made the all-too-common mistake of befriending a psycho while wasted at last night’s party and need to find a way to get rid of them the next morning. But Ryan didn’t always have the answers to these modern day dilemmas. Growing up gay and disabled with cerebral palsy, he constantly felt like he was one step behind everybody else. Then the rude curveball known as your twenties happened and things got even more confusing.
Ryan spent years as a Millennial cliché: he had dead-end internships; dabbled in unemployment; worked in his pajamas as a blogger; communicated mostly via text; looked for love online; spent hundreds on “necessary” items, like candles, while claiming to have no money; and even descended into aimless pill-popping. But through extensive trial and error, Ryan eventually figured out how to take his life from bleak to chic and began limping towards adulthood.
Sharp and entertaining, I’m Special will educate twentysomethings (or other adolescents-at-heart) on what NOT to do if they ever want to become happy fully functioning grown ups with a 401k and a dog.
Review:
I am not sure how the work of Ryan O’Connell has not come across my screen before, but if any articles he has written are half as good as “I’m Special”, then I need to read them all. The book is not only hilarious, but also true, and explains so much about the millennial generation.
Mr. O’Connell is a very self-aware individual, which makes him the perfect writer to put a voice to the millennial generation, because self-awareness is not always a trait widely attributed to them/us. I’m a generation straddler, so half of it seemed to apply to myself or my parents, and the other half seemed to apply to every friend and relative I have who is younger. During some of the stories I was actually saying out loud, “That’s me! I do that all the time!” It should probably be embarrassing that I had that reaction, because every time it was because of something weird, quirky, and/or off-putting, but it is what it is. He makes it feel ok to be the way we are.
“I’m Special” has quite a bit of rather adult content, so if that bothers you it is probably not a good fit. Otherwise, as long as you aren’t afraid to laugh at yourself (because you will identify with someone in the book), I recommend it to anyone looking to be entertained while also being made to think about their life choices.
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warning:
As this is an adult book, there is no content warning.
Intimacy Idiot
Intimacy Idiot
Scribner
June 2, 2015
Hardcover
288
This big-hearted, laugh-until-you-can’t-breathe collection of personal essays, stories, and riffs on finding love and intimacy in New York City announces the arrival of a “a monstrous new talent” (New York magazine) in the vein of David Sedaris, Augusten Burroughs, and Tina Fey.
In this uproariously funny debut collection, award-winning writer and performer Isaac Oliver serves up a comedic cornucopia of sketches, vignettes, lists, and diaries from his life as a young, fanciful, and extremely single gay man in New York City. Whether he’s hooking up with a man who dresses as a dolphin, suffering on airplanes and buses next to people with Food From Home, or hovering around an impenetrable circle of attractive people at a cocktail party, Oliver captures the messy, moving, and absurd moments of urban life as we live it today.
Since moving to New York a decade ago, Oliver has pined for countless strangers on the subway, slept with half the people in his Washington Heights neighborhood, and observed the best and worst of humanity from behind the glass of a Times Square theater box office. He also rode the subway during Breastfeeding Awareness Week and lived to tell the tale. Culled from years of heartbreak, hook-ups, and more awkwardness than a virgin at prom and a whore in church (and he should know because he’s been both), Intimacy Idiot chronicles Oliver’s encounters with love, infatuation, resilience, and self-acceptance that echo our universal desire for intimacy of all kinds.
Review:
The star rating for “Intimacy Idiot” is probably a bit misleading here, as I rated based on the average of all of the pieces. When it is good, it is very, very good. I was laughing so hard it hurts at some points. The problem is, when it is not good it falls completely flat. The writing is on point in all of them, but sometimes I simply felt disinterested.
Isaac Oliver seems like someone I would love to hang out with. He’s funny, intelligent, talented, and self-deprecating without coming across as though he wears a hair shirt and flogs himself every night before bed. Twice on Sundays. The stories manage to both give a peek into the world of gay dating, which is an unknown territory for some of us, while being relatable on so many levels to every single person reading it. The ratio of familiar to foreign is absolutely perfect.
As I said above, it unfortunately fell flat in many chapters, but I would much rather focus on the enjoyable parts, of which there were many. The book is at its heart a work of comedy, but it also evokes quite a sense of loneliness and longing. It changes tone swiftly and seamlessly, always keeping the reader on their toes. There is a natural talent for storytelling that shows in the writing, and I am anticipating reading more of Oliver’s works in the future.
I recommend “Intimacy Idiot” to anyone looking for a laugh and a well-written memoir. The chapters range in format from stories to lists to poetry, so what fell flat for me may strike a chord with someone else. The enjoyable parts make it well worth reading, no matter the issues you may have with other chapters. If you in any way do not enjoy reading about casual sex, though, I would give the book a wide berth.
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warning:
As this is an adult book, there is no content warning.
We Should Hang Out Sometime
Juvenile Nonfiction
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
2014-12-23
336
When I was twenty-five years old, it came to my attention that I had never had a girlfriend. At the time, I was actually under the impression that I was in a relationship, so this bit of news came as something of a shock. Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down each of the girls he had tried to date since middle school and asked them straight up: What went wrong? The results of Josh's semiscientific investigation are in your hands. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), and a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love-or at least a girlfriend-in all the wrong places. Poignant, relatable, and totally hilarious, this memoir is for anyone who has ever wondered, "Is there something wrong with me?" (Spoiler Alert: the answer is no.)
Review:
All I really want to write about “We Should Hang Out Sometime” is a bunch of keyboard slamming with “EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS NOW” at the end of it. Oh, and a whole bunch of “lols”. It really is that good, and Josh Sundquist is a master storyteller.
The book is a somewhat scientific exploration of all of the author’s failed relationships and an attempt to find out where, exactly, they went wrong. He is a Christian homeschooled amputee with a nerdy side, making him atypical in many ways, but I dare anyone not to find parts of the story that they feel do not come straight out of their own lives. This is where Sundquist’s genius comes in: He can make us all relate to him, and therefore learn from him. I, by the way, fell (and still do) solidly in the “let me make a flowchart to minimize the pain of rejection during a social interaction” category. But I digress.
There are a lot of laughs in “We Should Hang Out Sometime”, including some of those uncomfortable “should I be laughing at this?” moments. My advice is to go with it, because trying to keep it in will hurt. It isn’t only words. There are hand-drawn charts graphs that are worthy of being made into posters illustrating many key points.
By the end of the book, the Josh Sundquist has shown remarkable growth as a person and managed to teach us some very good inspirational life lessons. An excellent, and important, read for middle readers through adults.
So, in closing: Mr. Sundquist, we should hang out sometime. (But not in that way.)
This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warning:
Mild Language, Mild Sexual Situations, Risk of Urinary Incontinence While Laughing
The Pornographer’s Daughter: A Memoir of Childhood, My Dad, and Deep Throat
Biography & Autobiography
Skyhorse Publishing Company Incorporated
2014-09-30
280
More than forty years after Deep Throat arrived on the cultural scene and inspired a sexual revolution, questions about the ethics of pornography and its impact on society are still being asked today and remain as controversial as ever. Kristin Battista-Frazee was only four years old in 1974 when her father, Anthony Battista, was indicted by the federal government for distributing the now famous porn film Deep Throat. As her father unexpectedly became an early pioneer in the emerging porn industry and transformed himself from Philadelphia stockbroker to porn broker, this indictment threatened his family’s stability. The stress drove Kristin’s mother, Frances Battista, to worry endlessly if her husband would be put in jail. She became so depressed that she attempted suicide. Kristin survived this family trauma to live a surprisingly normal life. But instead of leaving the past behind her, she developed a burning curiosity to understand her family’s history. Why did the federal government so vehemently prosecute this case? And why did her father get involved in distributing this notorious porn film in the first place? Did the influence of pornography in fact make Kristin a better person? Answering these questions and reconciling her dramatic family history with her life as a wife and mother became her mission. The Pornographer’s Daughter is an insider’s glimpse into the events that made Deep Throat and pornography so popular, as well as what it was like to come of age against the backdrop of the pornography business.
Review:
Every single person who wants to write a funny, readable, and memorable memoir needs to read “The Pornographer’s Daughter” before they write a single word. It is everything anyone could ask of a book, whether it be fiction or non-fiction.
As the title suggests, Kristin Battista-Frazee’s father worked as a distributor of porn, specifically the ever-famous “Deep Throat” starring Linda Lovelace. The entire story of “Deep Throat” is a fascinating one in and of itself. Add in the mob, the feds, the morality wars of the times, an extended Italian family, and a cast of characters that includes at least seven variations of “Anthony” and “Tony”, and you have a story that is beyond improbable. Yet, it is.
Along with all of the above, “The Pornographer’s Daughter” is a beautiful homage to the author’s unusual family and childhood. None of it is sugar-coated: she puts it all out there, flaws and all. The love is obvious, even in the context of such a unconventional childhood.
In short, I laughed, I cried from laughing, I cried from beautiful passages, and then I wished I knew most of the eccentric characters in my own life. I am extremely excited to see the television show that is being developed!
This review is based upon a copy from the Goodreads First Reads program given in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warning:
Do I really need to put one here? Pornographer is in the title, along with the iconic porn “Deep Throat”.
Cinderland: A Memoir
Biography & Autobiography
Beacon Press (MA)
2014-10-07
216
"Amy Jo Burns grew up in Mercury, PA--a small, conservative Rust Belt town fallen sleepy a decade after the steel industry's collapse. But the year Amy turned ten, everyone in Mercury woke up. That was the year Howard Lotte, Mercury's beloved piano teacher, was accused of committing indiscretions during his lessons. Among the girls questioned, only seven dared to tell the truth that would ostracize them from the community. Amy Jo Burns was one of the girls who lied. Her memoir, CINDERLAND, navigates the impact that lie had on her adolescent years to follow--tracing all the boys she ran from and toward, the girls she betrayed, and the endless performances she put on to please a town that never trusted girls in the first place. CINDERLAND is literary memoir of the highest caliber. A slim, searing feat of narrative beauty, it is full of psychologically nuanced grappling, imagery of fire and steel, and eerily universal shadows of adolescence"--
Review:
It is difficult to write a review of a memoir, due in part to it being someone’s life story that was partially laid out for them by circumstances of birth, as well as the fact that the author is an inherently flawed narrator by only having their own thoughts to base it upon. In fiction, even if written in first-person, at least the author has an idea of what is going on in the other characters. “Cinderland: A Memoir” is particularly difficult due to the subject of molestation. Anyone being able to write about it deserves credit for that alone.
That all being said, this review took me days to finish, and I finally decided to review as I would any other story, fictional or not. It is based upon a complimentary copy provided through the Goodreads First Reads program in exchange for an honest review.
The positive of “Cinderland” is that it does an excellent job of exploring the feelings that stay with abuse victims throughout their lives. It takes an emotional and developmental toll. It was also extremely honest in terms of the guilt the author felt over not having spoken out about the abuse she suffered, leaving the fallout to the other girls who did speak out. As uncomfortable as it is to read, I feel that it’s very important to expose the way people blame victims, even if it is unintentional.
Unfortunately, the author comes across as someone who feels like those around her are beneath her in some way, especially those who have no goals to get out of the town. While she admits to loving to the town, it is implied that those who are content there have no ambition and are trapped. It is as though she never begins to think that they may love living there and want that life. In keeping with this trend, while she writes that the need for the spotlight was to hide what she was truly feeling, it is very obvious she was smart and popular. That is not a bad thing, but again, there was a feeling of dismissal of those who were content to be in the background of things.
In spite of this, the positives would have led me to give “Cinderland” four stars. That is, until the part that dealt more with Aaron. For someone who meant so much to her, his deepest scars were revealed with very little empathy and absolutely no follow-up. I could understand if it was a protection of privacy, but if that was the case, his secrets should have been left out entirely. The broken-hearted boy who was obviously being taken advantage in a relationship by someone in a position of power, physically abused, and had stood by her throughout her life with not much acknowledgement until the end of high school, was in my opinion the most sympathetic character in the book. As it was written he was used by and disposable to the author. Of all people, she should have understood his hurt, but all that was written was what he did for her. Unlike what the author wrote, leaving a town does not mean having to make a clean break from those you love.
I am not afraid to admit that I searched the thank you notes hoping that “Aaron” would have been mentioned. He helped her through, but apparently did not even warrant that.
The disregard for those around her are what makes me absolutely not recommend this book. It reads like a self-congratulatory slap on the back and is, quite frankly, grating.
Content Warning:
As this is an adult book, the only warning I will included is that there is frank discussion of child molestation, so please keep that in mind if it may trigger you.
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