An absorbing, winning tour of one indomitable man’s life and mind.
A collection of personal essays organized alphabetically.
In Lorch’s richly personal, utterly beguiling book, letters of the alphabet prompt ruminations on a wide range of subjects, from the pragmatic to the metaphorical—G for gestalt, I for imagine, J for Jackie, as in Jackie Robinson, etc. The project originated with a series of emails Lorch sent to friends and acquaintances while he recovered from surgery to remove a melanoma from the top of his head (hence the title). The entries mainly consider different aspects of Lorch’s medical experience, but they invariably branch out from that initial starting point. E for exhaust, for instance, has a medically oriented core—“One way to think about cancer, kidney failure, heart problems, etc. is to see them as failures of our body to properly exhaust the wasted material it has produced”—but quickly expands to discuss not only matters of ecological and technological waste but also of personal benefits, from expelling waste products like worry or tension. The essays exhibit considerable variation: N for numbers is a fairly straightforward examination not just of the efficiency of Arabic numerals, but of the ubiquity of number crunching in modern technological society; O for opera, option and organization is far more personal, with Lorch reflecting on listening to the old Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcasts hosted by Milton Cross and reflecting on opera itself, about which he says, “When properly done, it is hard to believe that what you are seeing and hearing is real and taking place before your eyes.” Lorch’s repeated mantra is “never worry alone,” but his book is far from preoccupied with worry; instead, it’s a fascinatingly wide-ranging feast of autobiographical musings filled with thoughts on numerous authors—from W.H. Auden to Jorge Luis Borges to Dylan Thomas to David Lodge and Daniel Dennett—all of it served with a good deal of humor.
An absorbing, winning tour of one indomitable man’s life and mind.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989884006
Page Count: 352
Publisher: JW Lorbek Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014
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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