5 comments about Family Secrets: The Dionne Quintuplets' Autobiography.

1. After seeing the CBS telepic about the Dionne Quints, I read this book with much interest. "Family Secrets" is very different from the movie. In fact, it is the antithesis of the TV movie.
   
   This book was published about 13 or 14 years ago in Canada and then reprinted in the US in English. It is supposedly the Dionne's "autobiography" however they've sold the rights to various journalists so it's hard to decipher which is the definitive book by them, since there appears to be a slew; all written around the same time-frame.
   
   This book was interesting. It detailed their abusive childhood and how they were the victims of abuse by their parents. What I didn't like about the book was the sloppy way it was written. I suppose that happens with just about any low-budget book that's copied into a variety of second languages (including English.)
   
   Currently, there's only 2 of the Dionne Sisters still alive. On of them passed away within the past few years. I hope they can find some happiness and peace.



2. Here are five girls raised as royalty for most of their lives. Every want was met, they had the latest clothes, latest toys, etc. They were catered to and waited on.

   Now, they go to live with their family who are poor farmers. They are expected to be just as the other children. They suddenly have chores. They suddenly aren't looked on as princesses but equals. They don't have a pristine environment.

   Poor, poor princesses....Now they are just ordinary. It had to be a shock.

   But, to take it out on their parents who fought desparately to regain their custody. They didn't even know anything about the world outside their hospital home. Their parents showed them the real world.

   Now, they accuse their father of abusing them, their mother of cruelty. Okay, so they did it after the parents died so that they couldn't defend themselves. Isn't that interesting?

   Poor, poor princesses. They're expected to be ordinary, so they resent it and lash out. False memory syndrome, I'll bet.

   When does one take responsibility for their own lives despite what happened in the past?




3. It was only on the 68th anniversary of the Dionne Quints' births that I learned of the passing of the alleged oldest Quint, Yvonne, a cancer victim, on June 23, 2001. While a bit baffled over how such an event could have escaped my notice for nearly a year, I still stand by most of what I said in my previous review, although I realize that monetary compensation may not mean as much to the sisters now.
   In earlier times, the death of one of these sisters might have been front page news. But perhaps the fact that Yvonne's passing was apparently an obscure news item, at least in the town where I live, is a sign that the sisters have finally acheived the level of privacy that they have so long desired.



4. I read this book during the past year. I found it to be much more revealing than their 1960s account of their lives, written with James Brough. In "We Were Five", the four remaining Quintuplets used the real names of their siblings, but neglected to come foreward with the charges of sexual abuse leveled at their father in this newer account.
   The church officials who could have helped them turned their backs on them, telling them to "submit", and deciding that as long as their father gave monetary support to the Church, he was being a good Catholic. At a time when there was little if any separation of Church and State where the French Canadian government was concerned, there were many other children who experienced the same indignities. It is good that the Dionnes have spoken out on their behalf.
   I'm glad that shortly after this account was published, that Yvonne, Annette, and Cecile were finally given $2.8 million dollars in compensation by the Ontario Government. But if there is any real justice, Ontario should be paying them annuity. After all, they didn't ask to become the saviors of Ontario during the Depression, and they only ended up as such by accident of being born Quintuplets and subsequent government manipulation.The Ontario Government made $500 million off of "Quintland" during the thirties. Caged and exploited for the first years of their lives, and tended to by Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, they were eventually reunited with their parents and siblings after lengthy and strenuous custody battles. But while Oliva Dionne may have won the physical custody of his daughters, the loyalties of the three surviving sisters ultimately lie firmly with the Doctor who treated them with more dignity than their parents.
   While it is well that these sisters, whose lives I have followed since I was a kid myself, have been compensated, I hope their siblings can make peace with them, although they shouldn't be entitled to their sisters' reward money after the way they treated them. Due to the times in which they were born, they aroused more public interest than they might have in a time of more affluence, and were led on a nightmarish odyssey that included experimentation, exploitation, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, failed marriages, and the early deaths of the two youngest Quintuplets, Emilie, and Marie in 1954 and 1970 respectively.
   Their parents will have to answer for their sins in another lifetime, since they are both deceased. But when the three surviving Quintuplets sent a word of warning to the parents of the McCaughey Septuplets about not letting their children suffer the indignities that they did, my respect for them was renewed.
   I wish these three remarkable ladies all the best in their remaining years. Their story, so far, as had as fair an outcome as could have been expected. As their mother once said to an American auidience years ago during a vaudeville act, "Dieu Beniesse".--God bless you, Yvonne, Annette, and Cecile.



5. I think a lot of this book is more than just about the Dionne quints and their lives. How many other poor defenseless young children are brought into this world only to be treated as though they had no right to have been born. The poor souls. They were made to feel guily for having survivied and dividing their family through no fault of their own. I found the most inspiring part of this book to be the introduction by Cecile Dionne who says that after many hard years she has learned that being born and survivng was not her fault and that she should no longer bear any guilt for it. That is a lesson a lot of other people need to learn as well unfortunately. How sad that anyone especially her family members would make her feel that way. A human life is a miracle and a blessing. And the Dionne quints were 5 little blessings. How sad that the joy and innocence and trust of young children is always stripped away,and in the case of the Dionne sisters, in a particularly cruel and unfair way.

1 comments about Radical Nomad: C. Wright Mills and His Times (Great Barrington Books).

1. This is a terrific look at the creative forces of Mills and Hayden during the 60's and the revolution that changed American college student thinking. Interesting and well-written. One caveat -- the primary text is based on Tom Hayden's Masters Thesis at the University of Michigan -- as such, the reading is somewhat less developed than his other writing, and tends to sound academic throughout. That being said, this is wonderful reading and places into context Mills thinking, his influences, and how world events changed his thinking and the New Left. This will no doubt be required reading some day in American History courses covering the 60's and radical change.

2 comments about Secret Places: My Life in New York and New Guinea (Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiographies).

1. This book was written by a flagellant. Reading it is a painful experience.



2. In travels through faerie sanctuaries and other exotic lands, I've enjoyed the company of many unusual personalities. One of the most memorable is Tobias Schneebaum. Reading his latest book, Secret Places, has increased my sense of awe at the uniqueness of this man.

   Toby's fame results largely from a brief encounter (an unpleasantly personal encounter) with cannibalism in the 1950s. His free-wheeling explorations of the Amazon region, searching for a life more meaningful than accumulating money and possessions, led to an extended visit with the little-known Akarama tribe. Toby bonded strongly with the indigenous tribal men, who had little or no experience of modern culture. He found himself embraced as a temporary memory of the tribe, and was included both in headhunting expeditions and same-sex celebrations of body and spirit. On one occasion, a traditional ceremony culminated in eating the heart of a captured warrior from a neighboring tribe; it would have been impolite (and probably dangerous) to decline.

   His first book chronicling these and other adventures, Keep The River On Your Right, was published in 1969, and the book soon became a cult classic. Schneebaum became a rather unlikely, and somewhat notorious, celebrity. (Recently, the story has been retold and updated in a fascinating documentary film of the same name, now available on DVD and video - highly recommended.)
   Toby's latest book, Secret Places, is one of a series of gay and Lesbian autobiographies from the University of Wisconsin Press. About half the book consists of detailed and fascinating stories of Toby's adventures with the Asmat people of New Guinea. It is probably no coincidence that he describes Asmat stories and myths as "not following any particular pattern. They do not have a beginning; they do not have an ending." My perception may be colored by the way I met the author a few years ago at a dinner party in New York, but to me, the book reads like a transcribed dinner conversation. Unlike any other autobiography I've read, the style is remarkably non-linear. For example, details are often repeated from prior pages as if brand new, as they might be in casual conversation. I found this loose approach unusual, and most enjoyable.

   Jumping forward and backward in time and space, incorporating stories of his religious Jewish childhood, of New York friends succumbing to mid-80s AIDS, of aboriginal lovers in faraway lands, of missionaries bringing permanent change to ancient cultures, Toby regales the reader with episodes of his remarkable life. He is struck by the similarity between Catholic communion - eating the body and drinking the blood of Christ - and ritual cannibalism - eating the body and drinking the blood of conquered warriors. He chronicles a multinational company's bull-in-china-shop destruction of untouched wilderness among the Asmat, in an oblivious attempt to drill oil where only water exists. And he mourns the inevitable shift in artistic style among Asmat woodcarvers, from subtle hand-tooled techniques passed down from uncountable generations, to pretty but "soulless" items more easily sold to tourists for easy packing in their luggage or shipping home as excess baggage.
   Toby's book is a small but generous gift, offering a glimpse into cultures and climes few will ever experience (and none will experience in the state of preservation that still existed at the time of his youth). It is thrilling to read about Toby's apparently fearless adventures, to enjoy them vicariously through his memoirs. Don't miss this book, and if you ever get the chance to hang out and chat with 80-something Tobias Schneebaum, it will be time well spent.

   Reviewed By Mountaine in
   White Crane Journal
   A Journal on Gay Spirituality

3 comments about On Familiar Terms: To Japan and Back, a Lifetime Across Cultures (Kodansha Globe).

1. Donald Keene's personal story on his life-long devotion to the study of Japanese never fails to attract those interested in Japanese and Japan.

   I find his accidental first encounter with a strange language, Japanese, quite amusing. A mistake to put a record on a player has eventually led young Keene to dare to learn Japanese and finally to write one of the most comprehensive history of Japanese literature several years ago. My vivid memory is that on a new-year TV program Keene and a notable Japanese poet talked about Japanese literature. The Japanese poet was never equal to Keene on topics in Japanese literature. It might be true that Keene's profound knowledge and appreciation of Japanese literature has no rival even in Japan, maybe except Dr. Jinichi Konishi, Professor Emeritus of Tsukuba University.

   In this work, Keene puts an exciting and enchanting account of mishaps, adventures, good luck with Japanese which fascinated and nurtured the author as a distinguished Japan scholar.

   I especially love to read his struggle and clever strategy of how he finally reached Tokyo and then, without staying there for even a night he took a night train for Kyoto from which his literary quest originated.

   I believe we can enjoy reading detailed episodes that reveal his solid dedication and patience in learning Japanese and Japan. The author's well-thought-out expressions often help us discover the best way to describe in plain English some peculiar aspects of Japanese culture.




2. As someone living in Japan I enjoyed reading this book. Donald Keene is one of the great scholars on Japanese literature and equally at home in it's many facetted culture. The work Dr. Keene has delivered with this autobiography has the feel of many years of being submerged in a fascinating as well as a, for a Westerner, incredibly complex literary culture written in a wonderfully easy to understand style. Not only for those interested in Japanese literature and culture, but also for those who just want to have a good read. While traveling or before going to sleep. Nothing deep, but personal and a joy to read!



3. Donald Keene is not only one of the WestÕs great literary and cultural translators of Japan, he is an important figure in the history of modern Japanese literature. In this readable and inspiring autobiography, Keene succinctly recalls his experiences with Japan, its language and its culture, and the numerous academic and literary figures he has encountered.

   Keene, like many early Japan scholars in the United States, was initially trained by the military for intelligence work during World War II in the Pacific. Most of the book deals with his life between the war years, when he first struggled with the Japanese language, through the 1960s, when he was at the height of his associations with such famous Japanese writers as Yasunari Kawabata, Kobo Abe and Yukio Mishima. Keene was a great fan of Mishima, who is probably the most legendary Japanese writer in the West. Keene knew him well professionally, and openly discusses his efforts to lobby for a Nobel Prize for Mishima. He also talks about the dejection that overtook Mishima for never winning. Keene relates his own sense of loss at the suicides of both Kawabata and, especially, Mishima, and even finds fault with himself for not recognizing sooner the trajectory of MishimaÕs demise.

   Keene's autobiography is highly recommended to anyone interested in the literature or scholarship of Japan, as well as to anyone interested in the life of an unusual and inspiring individual.

4 comments about C. Wright Mills: Letters and Autobiographical Writings.

1. Having regarded "Sociological Imagination" one of the few most exciting books written in the field, this one greatly disappointed me.



2. No one has written with more verve and authority about the awesome and frightening capabilities of man than the late C. Wright Mills, a prominent and controversial sociologist who wrote such memorable tomes as "White Collar", an exploration of the emerging American Middle class in the early 1950s, and The Power Elite", a provocative examination of the nature of power, privilege, and status in the United States, and how each of these three critical elements of power and property in this country are irrevocably connected to each other. At last look, both books were still in print and are still used in both undergraduate and graduate sociology courses throughout the world. After fifty years, that in and of itself is powerful testimony to his enduring value as a scholar and an original thinker.

   Here Mills focuses memorably on the qualities and uses of the sociological perspective in modern life, how such a scientifically based way of looking at, interpreting, and interacting with the larger world invests its user with a better, more accurate, and quite instrumental picture of what is happening meaningfully around him. For Mills, the key to understanding the value in such a perspective is in appreciating that one can only understand the motives, behavior, and actions of others by locating them within a wider and more meaningful context that connects their personal biographies with the large social circumstances that surround, direct, and propel them at any given historical moment. For Mills, for example, trying to understand the reasoning behind the sometimes desperate actions of Jews in Nazi Germany without appreciating the horrifyingly unique existential circumstances they found themselves in is hopelessly anachronistic and limited.

   On the other hand, one invested with such an appreciation for how biography and history interact to create the meaningful social circumstances of any situation finds himself better able to understand the fact that when in a country of one hundred million employed, one man's singular lack of employment might be due to his persoanl deficiencies or lack of a work ethic, and be laid at his feet as a personal trouble, it is also true that when twenty million individuals out of that one hundred million figure suddenly find themselves so disposed and unemployed, that situation is due to something beyond the control of those many individuals and is best described in socioeconomic terms as a social problem to be laid at the feet of the government and industry to resolve. To Mills, it is critical to understand the inherant differences between personal troubles on the one hand, which an individual has the responsibity to resolve and overcome, and social ills, which are beyond both his ken or control. Indeed, according to Mills, increasingly in the 20th century one finds himself trapped by social circumstance into dilemmas he is absolutely unable to resolve without significant help from the wider social community.

   Thus, for both psychological as well as social reasons, a person using the sociological perspective, or invested with what he called the "sociological imagination", is more able to think and act critically in accordance with the evidence both outside his door and beyond himself. Fifty years later, such a recognition of "what's what" and "who's who" based on the ability to judge the information within the social environment is as valuable as ever. This is a wonderful book, written in a very accessible and entertaining style, meant both for an intellectual audience and for the scholastic community as well. While it may not be for "everyman", any person wanting to better understand and more fully appreciate how individual biography and social history meaningfully interact to create the realities we live in will enjoy and appreciate this legendary sociological critique and invitation to the pleasures of a sociological perspective by one of its most remarkable proponents some half century ago.




3. A customer review on this site states that the editors have changed the word "men" to "people" in the letters. As the publisher, we would like to place this statement in its proper context.

   The unmarked edits only occurred in the Tovarich letters, those that were written to an imaginary Russian correspondent. Mills "made it clear [to his agent] that he wanted the Tovarich writings to be edited before they were published . . . his marginal comments included these instructions: 'very good, use it,' 'can't use this,' 'cut somewhat.'" And so, unlike for the rest of the letters, the editors "did not mark deletions with ellipses and occasionally changed the location of paragraphs, shortened a heading, or relaced a heading with a phrase that Mills had written in the text. Although we usually left the original references to men, boys, women, and girls in these essays, we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people.'"

   In the rest of the letters, the only editorial changes were spelling corrections and occasional deletions (the latter are always marked with brackets).




4. I have been eagerly awating the publication of these glimpses into Mills' 'personal' life. The book is organized, for the most part, chronologically. Its contents are mostly letters written by this most influental radical intellectuall of the cold war period. The letters (and autobiographical writings disguised as letters) reveal Mills to be as intense, focused, and dedicated to his social analysis as I, a student of his work, have imagined him to be. The writings are beautifully composed; Mills was indeed both a scientist AND an artist. His musings are inspiring for any student, scholar, or critical minded person who wants an insight into Mills "private" reflections. This book could also serve as a wonderful guide to a study of Mills' life-work, as we are given insight into his concerns and struggles during his writing process. I do have a complaint...his daughters, who have no doubt taken painstaking efforts to compose this work, have been so bold as to alter the language of his personal writings... "we occasionally changed 'men' to 'people'" (p. xiv). I think we are wise enough to realize that Mills language is a reflection of the social and historical context in which he lived...Regardless, we are lucky to have this invaluable resource that provides endless reflections into the life and though of C. Wright Mills. END

2 comments about From My Grandmother's Bedside: Sketches of Postwar Tokyo.

1. I purchased this book because "Sketches of Postwar Tokyo" was of interest. I was very disappointed because my idea of "Postwar Tokyo" is Tokyo shortly after the war. If I wrote a book "Sketches of Postwar U.S.", it would be the United States from 1945 until 1950. It's quite a stretch to talk about Japan 50 years later and call it postwar! The book also contained some inaccuracies. I lived in Japan for 13 years and therefore know something about the country.



2. This fragmented narrative draws connections between the personal and political narratives of individuals and nations. It is by far one of the best books I've read.

No comments about Fifty Key SOciologists: The Conteporary Theorists (Routledge Key Guides).

1 comments about Chicago Days/Hoboken Nights.

1. As a fan of Daniel Pinkwater's eccentric stories, I was delighted to find a copy of "Chicago Days/Hoboken Nights". While not a straight forward memoir, it is a collection of memories and anecdotes that showcases Pinkwater's unique sense of humor and even more uniquely lived life.
   
   Starting with his childhood, in which his family moved around a lot, Pinkwater recollects his immigrant father's capitalism and his school days as an overweight outsider. His father isn't exactly pleased when Pinkwater wants to major in art in college, neither are Pinkwater's professors or the would-be artist himself, finding his interest in art doesn't necessarily translate into talent. He then progresses into his early days as an artist, struggling to make a living in Hoboken fulfilling his artistic dream, always on the cusp of gaining entrance into the art world, before realizing his singular niche in the world of children's writing.
   
   "Chicago Days/Hoboken Nights" is definitely a fans-only book. It is a jumble of not always connected remembrances, some more scattered than others, as Pinkwater moves from topic to topic with few connecting strands. It is a book that allows readers a glimpse into the mind of the rotund genius who has written novels about giant chickens and lizards who make music. It is a book that is to be enjoyed a few memories at a time, a book that will produce a number of laugh-out-loud moments, a book that will leave fans thirsting for another sip.

2 comments about Adorno: A Political Biography.

1. Jaeger's book ends with the claim that "by the time that Adorno died in August 1969, the normative potential of his theory was already exhausted," and that "the abstractions of exchange and money [had become] the ideology of a world without symbols, of a universality without culture." There is no recognition that this would imply the continuing 'normative potential' of Adorno's thought. This book is littered with similar mis-steps. Jaeger attacks Adorno's use of psychoanalysis as a critical tool, hut he himself traces Adorno's theory of the relationship between language and music to "an overwhelming sense of gratitude to his mother's voice." How could anyone write a biography on Adorno which fails to reflect on itself to this degree?
   Internal inconsistencies aside, there are problems of content. For no apparent reason, Jaeger stages Adorno's thinking as a clash between Athens and Jerusalem (although the entirely gratuitous mention of Leo Strauss might hint at an esoteric reading of the present book). Jaeger returns again and again to Jewishness, but always other peoples' Jewishness: Horkheimer, Celan... why all this in a book on Adorno? Well, Jaeger has a clear dislike for him. So Adorno - not Jewish enough, too anti-capitalist, too utopian - is often absent. This dislike is in turn understandable, since he is clearly incapable of understanding Adorno's ideas: see, for instance, the section on Heidegger and 'The Jargon of Authenticity'; or Jaeger's 'interpretation' of the Frankfurt School's sociology as a vision of society as "a kind of tabula rasa: people in it live without traditions, without religion, without nations and without a state." Bizarrely, two pages are given over to Ralf Dahrendorf's complaints about the Institute for Social Research, before we learn that Dahrendorf spent barely a month there.
   "Today's reader [of Minima Morali] may be struck not only by the lack of genuine observations on America but may gain only an inadequate idea of the author's empirical existence [sic]: but if Adorno had been identical with the 'implied author' he would no doubt have been prevented from writing the book by sheer unhappiness."
   Like the above sentence, this book is grammatically flawed, rhetorically atrocious (what exactly is a 'genuine observation'? Is it to be distinguished from an ungenuine one?), and showcases a total lack of understanding of its subject. Finally, it is self-absorbed. Jaeger's apparent desire to justify post-modern capitalism crushes any possibility of objective judgement.
   For all that, if read as a collection of portraits (of, amongst others, Kracauer, Horkheimer, Mann and Fromm) it's a nice way to pass a winter afternoon. But don't pay full price.



2. Although an authoritative intellectual biography of Adorno is needed, this book doesn't fill the gap. Despite the sub-title, the author ranges freely across Adorno's work in philosophy, sociology, aesthetics, music and literature, and just over two hundred pages (of main text) is not enough space to deal adequately with the material, let alone with the additional portraits of associates such as Horkheimer and Kracauer. Some of Adorno's major works, such as Negative Dialectics, receive cursory treatment, and either the author, or possibly the translator, is not comfortable with technical philosophical arguments. Some discussions of Heidegger's views, for example, are nonsensical.
   
   This has the appearance of a hasty piece of work, and as one reads on, the impression grows that the author has little respect for his subject. As a person and thinker, Adorno was surely flawed, but his story deserves a more balanced, detailed and informed recounting.

No comments about Letters to his Parents: 1939-1951.