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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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