Review_NONFICTION
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ AUGUST 28, 2017 114
Noah Strycker with the stack of guides he
digitized for use during the voyage around the
world he records in Birding Without Borders,
reviewed on p. 116
The Kevin Show: Love, Mania, and
the Olympics
Mary Pilon. Bloomsbury, $28 (320p) ISBN 978-
1-63286-682-0
Former New York Times reporter Pilon
(The Monopolists) recounts the life story of
Kevin Hall, a competitive sailor and two-time cancer survivor whose bipolar disorder makes him think he is the star of a
reality TV show. During manic episodes,
Kevin hears “the Director” command him
to do things on “the Show,” such as drive
his car into Boston Harbor (he’s saved
when his car hits a fence) or jump off the
roof of a tower (a seagull distracts him just
in time). Kevin’s delusions have led to
arrests, hospitalizations, psychiatric treatments, and struggles with medication, but
they’ve also become part of who he is. In a
breezily written, sometimes suspenseful
narrative, Pilon examines Kevin’s efforts
to understand and control his symptoms as
he establishes himself as a competitive
sailor, taking part in the America’s Cup
race and the 2004 Olympics. She observes
that, compared to many other mentally ill
people, Kevin enjoys a “very privileged
support system”; both of his parents and
his wife are doctors. Though continual
shifts in point of view between Kevin, his
family members, and others keep the
author from fully developing her ideas,
her work draws attention to the toll of
mental illness on individuals and their
families. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman
Schneider Literary Agents. (Mar. 2018)
Tell Me More: Stories about the
12 Hardest Things I’m Learning
to Say
Kelly Corrigan. Random, $26, (240p) ISBN
978-0-399-58837-2
In this brisk and moving memoir,
Corrigan (The Middle Place) explores the
language and terrain of intimacy, delving
into some of the most difficult and significant things people say to one another. In
12 brief essays, Corrigan describes the
ways in which phrases such as “tell me
more” and “I know” have shaped her
closest relationships. In the title essay,
Corrigan slowly raises the stakes, with
masterly results (when her sixth-grade
daughter calls to talk of an incident in
school, Corrigan simply says, “Tell me
about it,” rather than something more
accusative, and her daughter divulges
everything). She also contemplates the
many meanings of “I love you” (to a sib-
ling, it could be “Even though we hardly
agree about a thing, including who should
be president... I love you”) and writes
about how the phrase “I know” offers the
salve of empathy when no other words
will do. At the heart of the memoir is
Corrigan’s examination of her friendship
with Liz, who died from ovarian cancer.
“Every important conversation I have, for
the rest of my life, will have a little bit to
do with her,” Corrigan writes. At one
point, she considers the truth that some-
times only silence can properly evoke. The
essays are impactful, and Corrigan offers
solid wisdom throughout. (Jan. 2018)
Your Score: An Insider’s Secrets
to Understanding, Controlling, and
Protecting Your Credit Score
Anthony Davenport, with Matthew Rudy.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $22 (224p) ISBN
978-1-328-69527-7
Former mortgage lender Davenport
offers a handy, one-stop guide to understanding—and fixing—your credit score.
Outraged at practices he found predatory
and nontransparent, Davenport left the
industry to instead provide credit-man-
agement services. He brings both sides of
his expertise to answering common
credit-related questions. Credit is undeni-
ably big business, and in Davenport’s
eyes, it’s also a creepy one, wherein credit
bureaus and consumers have an inherently
adversarial and imbalanced relationship;
credit bureaus, he posits, want customers
to think their scores are complicated, but
anyone can learn how they work. His
offering is a step-by-step manual to under-
standing your “real” financial score, not
the estimate provided by free annual
reports. He guides readers through identi-
fying and fixing common mistakes,
making sense of the report itself, and
building a strong credit profile. Readers
can skip to the sections pertaining most to
their needs, such as discussions of home
purchases, credit-card management, iden-
tity theft, establishing credit, school loans,
and surviving disasters such as foreclosure
and divorce. Davenport has written a
clearheaded, must-read guide for anyone
looking to decode the most influential
number of them all. Agent: Farley Chase,
Chase Literary Agency. (Jan. 2018)
How Long Will Israel Survive?:
The Threat from Within
Gregg Carlstrom. Oxford Univ., $24.95 (256p)
ISBN 978-0-19-084344-1
Once viewed as the most stable state in
the Middle East, Israel now faces internal
divisions that threaten its very survival,
according to journalist Carlstrom in his
debut book. Drawing on interviews with
a large cross section of Israelis, including
both politicians and settlers, Carlstrom
puts a human face on the challenges Israel
faces and offers a measured, detailed, and
insightful look into the roots of the cur-
rent situation. Several factors, Carlstrom
points out, threaten Israel’s future,
including an endless state of conflict and
occupation that tears down the relation-
ships between the nation and the army
and between Jews and Arabs. In addition,
while Israel has presented itself to the
world as an ideal democracy surrounded
by monarchies and dictatorships, the state
is now so divided into various political
and religious groups that internal unity
seems impossible. Carlstrom observes that
profound economic and social inequality
is exacerbating this disunity. Perhaps the
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