October 1, 2014
Texas gubernatorial candidate Davis delivers a political biography that is better-in part because it's better written, in part because it's more heartfelt-than most books of its kind.Davis burst onto the national stage last year with a carefully mounted filibuster of the Texas Senate "to defeat an anti-abortion bill, giving voice to thousands and thousands of women pleading to preserve their access to lifesaving health care and reproductive rights." Among the news that emerges from the book, and by artful design, is the fact that Davis herself had to have recourse to the procedure due to an ectopic pregnancy that required removal of a fallopian tube, "which in Texas is technically considered an abortion, and doctors have to report it as such." Hard-line anti-abortion activists probably won't be swayed by Davis' thoughtful, somber account of the tragedy, but it is affecting and unsentimental. Her account of her peripatetic, shy childhood ("I was not an expected child and my parents didn't greet the news with great happiness") is similarly moving. Rather more rote is her account of college and law school. Though she worked harder than most as a young mother without much in the way of family resources, all the expected tropes are there: the feeling of being the smartest kid in the class on arriving at Harvard and the dumbest within five minutes or so, the backbreaking toughness of contracts class. Davis' recollection is that she threw herself into politics without much preparation, without having nursed a long desire to be president or a congresswoman, but it's clear from her accounts of maneuvering through various bills and factions that she's good at horse trading. She's good at writing, too, and her closing account of that famed filibuster is a dramatic, textbook case of how to play hardball. Doubtless we'll be hearing more from Davis. This modest memoir makes it clear why even her opponents should pay attention to her.
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November 1, 2014
When Texas state senator and current gubernatorial candidate Davis came to national attention while filibustering a restrictive anti-abortion bill on the floor of the Texas Senate, she had already beaten long odds against achieving professional or political success. Standing without leaning on or touching her desk and refraining from eating or drinking even one sip of water for 13 hours while talking "on topic" may have been easy compared to the challenges she had already faced. Her childhood family life was often chaotic as her parents struggled to maintain their marriage. She left home at 16 to flee the instability, and at age 19 found herself living in a trailer and raising a child while working two jobs. In telling her story, Davis shows that she possesses incredible internal drive and determination. She tells how she methodically worked to achieve each goal for herself, from graduating from Texas Christian University and Harvard Law School to being elected as a Democrat against an entrenched Republican state senator in a Republican district. Her account of her political accomplishments is impressive, and the report of her historic filibuster is dramatic and poignant. VERDICT Readers who want to know more about this rising political figure, and those interested in understanding the background and details of the Senate filibuster will enjoy Davis's engaging description of her personal and political life. [See Prepub Alert, 3/31/14.]--Jill Ortner, SUNY Buffalo Libs.
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