The riveting chronicle of a May/December match that precipitated a bitter struggle for the lion's share of a great American fortune. Margolick (who writes a legal column for The New York Times) has fashioned a wonderfully absorbing narrative whose protagonists will strike most readers as being utterly without redeeming social values. In 1971, he reports, J. Seward Johnson, 76-year-old scion of a Johnson & Johnson founder, took a third wife: Barbara Piasecka, a 34-year-old Polish ÇmigrÇ who had worked as a maid in his household. The couple spent most of the their time traveling, collecting fine art, and building fabulously expensive homes. When Seward died in 1983, he left Piasecka nearly all of his $400- million estate. The six children of Seward's two prior marriages (whose dysfunctional, trust-supported lifestyles made the term ``idle rich'' seem like a benediction) contested the will, and Piasecka, before collecting her legacy in an out-of-court settlement in 1986, faced charges ranging from spousal abuse to undue influence. By Margolick's evenhanded account, the legal brawl that ensued ranked among the costliest and ugliest proceedings in the history of US jurisprudence. The clash, which pitted the cream of New York's white-shoe law firms against one another, elicited sensational testimony that succeeded in demonizing Piasecka in tabloid headlines and in tarnishing the reputations of the putatively disinherited, whose briefs conveniently neglected to disclose that their father had made them independently wealthy years earlier. Here, Margolick keeps coherent track of a large cast of attorneys, ligitants, and supporting players, assessing their strengths and weakneses in graceful, often wickedly witty, style. He also has a flair for explaining fine legal points without breaking his narrative's momentum. While there may be a moral to Margolick's dazzling, alchemic reporting on the carryings-on of seemingly repellent carriage-trade characters, it doesn't prevent him from keeping the pot bubbling at a merry pace. (Thirty-two pages of b&w photos—not seen.)
Pub Date: March 19, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-06425-6
Page Count: 600
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1993
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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