A touching and thoughtful remembrance of an unusual artist.
Richardson offers a biography of her late husband, David, a Canadian police officer who enjoyed remarkable success as a songwriter.
David Richardson, who was born in the 1940s in Victoria, British Columbia, grew up driven by two very different inspirations—to compose songs, and to help others by becoming a police officer. He largely grew up without a father, who died of Hodgkin lymphoma; a police officer, Ed Anderson, served as a father figure and mentor to David, and was his partner when the young man joined the force in his 20s. In 1970, David’s life changed forever when he co-wrote a song, eventually titled “Wildflower,” which was recorded by the Canadian band Skylark in 1972 and found international popularity. David was offered a lucrative contract by legendary producer Quincy Jones, the author notes, but he turned it down, unwilling to leave his law-enforcement career, which he deeply loved—a profound commitment that his widow ably captures in these pages. The “Poet Cop of Saanich,” as he was known in Victoria, had difficulty dealing with some of his experiences (“he saw so many gruesome sights, especially when working with forensics, that he would often wake with nightmares”). His despair took a toll on his personal life, as well; two marriages ended in divorce, and he had serious difficulties with drugs and alcohol. The author, David’s third wife, movingly depicts his triumph over addiction and his turn to spirituality; she writes that he experienced religious visions and believed that God spoke directly to him. Her account of the life of her spouse, who died in 2019, is utterly compelling, especially because he lived during an era when artists typically saw law enforcement as the enemy—a perception that pained him, especially because he was an artist himself. Understandably, she writes her account from a perspective of loving adoration, but although one can consider this book a homage, it avoids the pitfalls of hagiography. Moreover, this portrait brims with samples of David’s poetic work, which is as emotionally powerful as it is inventive.
A touching and thoughtful remembrance of an unusual artist.Pub Date: March 31, 2024
ISBN: 9781486625208
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Word Alive Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.
An insider’s chronicle of a pivotal presidential campaign.
Several months into the mounting political upheaval of Donald Trump’s second term and following a wave of bestselling political exposés, most notably Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s Original Sin on Joe Biden’s health and late decision to step down, former Vice President Harris offers her own account of the consequential months surrounding Biden’s withdrawal and her swift campaign for the presidency. Structured as brief chapters with countdown headers from 107 days to Election Day, the book recounts the campaign’s daily rigors: vetting a running mate, navigating back-to-back rallies, preparing for the convention and the debate with Trump, and deflecting obstacles in the form of both Trump’s camp and Biden’s faltering team. Harris aims to set the record straight on issues that have remained hotly debated. While acknowledging Biden’s advancing decline, she also highlights his foreign-policy steadiness: “His years of experience in foreign policy clearly showed….He was always focused, always commander in chief in that room.” More blame is placed on his inner circle, especially Jill Biden, whom Harris faults for pushing him beyond his limits—“the people who knew him best, should have realized that any campaign was a bridge too far.” Throughout, she highlights her own qualifications and dismisses suggestions that an open contest might have better served the party: “If they thought I was down with a mini primary or some other half-baked procedure, I was quick to disabuse them.” Facing Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, Harris never openly doubts her ability to confront him. Yet she doesn’t fully persuade the reader that she had the capacity to counter his dominance, suggesting instead that her defeat stemmed from a lack of time—a theme underscored by the urgency of the book’s title. If not entirely sanguine about the future, she maintains a clear-eyed view of the damage already done: “Perhaps so much damage that we will have to re-create our government…something leaner, swifter, and much more efficient.”
A determined if self-regarding portrait of a candidate striving to define herself and her campaign on her own terms.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781668211656
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.
A noted actor turns to verse: “Poems are a Saturday in the middle of the week.”
McConaughey, author of the gracefully written memoir Greenlights, has been writing poems since his teens, closing with one “written in an Australian bathtub” that reads just as a poem by an 18-year-old (Rimbaud excepted) should read: “Ignorant minds of the fortunate man / Blind of the fate shaping every land.” McConaughey is fearless in his commitment to the rhyme, no matter how slight the result (“Oops, took a quick peek at the sky before I got my glasses, / now I can’t see shit, sure hope this passes”). And, sad to say, the slight is what is most on display throughout, punctuated by some odd koanlike aperçus: “Eating all we can / at the all-we-can-eat buffet, / gives us a 3.8 education / and a 4.2 GPA.” “Never give up your right to do the next right thing. This is how we find our way home.” “Memory never forgets. Even though we do.” The prayer portion of the program is deeply felt, but it’s just as sentimental; only when he writes of life-changing events—a court appearance to file a restraining order against a stalker, his decision to quit smoking weed—do we catch a glimpse of the effortlessly fluent, effortlessly charming McConaughey as exemplified by the David Wooderson (“alright, alright, alright”) of Dazed and Confused. The rest is mostly a soufflé in verse. McConaughey’s heart is very clearly in the right place, but on the whole the book suggests an old saw: Don’t give up your day job.
It’s not Shakespeare, not by a long shot. But at least it’s not James Franco.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781984862105
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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