The god-awful story of a monster tornado’s progress, told by Kansas City writer Brewer, who was also a witness.
The year 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of a Category 5 tornado—known as the “incredible” and highest category, a step above the merely “devastating”—that wended its way from Williamsburg, Kan., to Knobtown, Mo., in a display of unrivaled energy and, to those who lived through the event, what must have felt like capricious malice. Brewer was then a child living in Ruskin Heights, Mo. “In Ruskin we had nothing but sky,” she says. Santa came from the sky, so did Grandma. “God lived in the sky. We were kids. What could you trust more than the sky?” Then something nasty dropped from the heavens. “First the smell. Sour, earthy, the inside smell of things never meant to be opened.” Brewer follows the course of the twister, taking testimony. Much of it underscores the banality of portent—“A few blocks to the east, Barbara Keister had a full house”—but there are also instances of beautiful understatement—“[Les] Lemon’s house was spared with only minor damage, but Les had a difficult time going to sleep that night.” There are a few stolen asides when readers can let their breath out, as when food critic Calvin Trillin sings the praises of Jess and Jim’s Steak House in Martin City, Kan., (destroyed, then rebuilt): “finest steak restaurant in the world.” Still, the tendency is to go from ominous to sheer terror, from “she noticed the neighbors were outside looking at the sky,” to “[s]he placed the still sleeping toddler in the linen closet and grabbed Melanie out of her crib.” The nightmares and scars are legion, and still much in evidence, but when you see “a house…lift up in the air about twenty feet, do a quarter turn, and disintegrate,” nightmares and scars are to be expected. An almost unbearably vivid tale, experientially chromatic, but emotionally wrenching.
Pub Date: May 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615486857
Page Count: 334
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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