A powerful story of the ubiquitous human longing for home.
A debut memoirist chronicles his quest for belonging and acceptance.
The Welsh word Hiraeth, per Morgan, has no English language equivalent. Like homesickness or nostalgia, the term refers to “an elusive ache for home,” but it also encompasses the very “idea of a home,” including “a time or place that never existed in the first place.” Born to a third-generation Welsh family as a United States citizen, the author experienced a childhood not characterized by feelings of warmth or safety. Both of his parents were in their 40s when he was born (nearly 10 years after his youngest sibling); his father grappled with addiction and mental illness while is mother was struggling with depression. A self-described “fat, sissy kid who grew up in the welfare system of Pittsburgh,” Morgan was further alienated due to his sexual orientation. Both in church and in the general cultural climate of the 1960s and 1970s, he was consistently told that not only were gay boys destined “to hell,” but that they were also “a danger to other children.” By the time he was a young man, he was living on the streets battling his own addictions, and he would eventually have “sex with more than a thousand men, often in exchange for gifts or a place to stay.” While the details of the book are often harrowing, what stands out is Morgan’s emotional honesty regarding his psychological trauma and journey toward self-acceptance. He discusses, for instance, his spiritual exploration of the Kama Sutra (which he describes as “spiritual porn”) and how his attraction to Buddhism was due, in part, to its popularity among hip, young white people. The narrative also includes anecdotes from his eclectic career path from stand-up comedy to a part-time acting (he appeared on a local Washington, D.C., television show alongside a young Dave Chapelle) to work as an academic with a doctorate degree in education. The book’s personal, engaging narrative is accompanied by a host of original poetry, photographs, reproductions of letters, and newspaper clippings.
A powerful story of the ubiquitous human longing for home.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9798891327467
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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 juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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