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A STUBBORN WILLFUL GIRL

Name: A STUBBORN WILLFUL GIRL
Author: Wendy Barker
ISBN: 978-1931942966

by Wendy Barker ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2013

An exceedingly dark, but ultimately uplifting, journey of self-discovery.

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A spare, unadorned memoir about growing up with an abusive father and neglectful mother.

Barker, a California social worker and grief counselor, references the name of Job at the beginning of a few chapters in this staggeringly bleak account of her life. The author, who survives horrific abuse and neglect at the hands of both her mother and father (and later, by a series of men), could have justifiably wrapped her entire biography in biblical terms. Her memoir immediately starts on a dark note, with the sudden death of her father when she was just 8 years old. She relates this seminal event in her life emotionally, seemingly heedless to narrative convention (“No comforting story: Poor Daddy got very sick kids, and then he died”). The result is a heartbreaking confessional that’s immediate and real; at times, it feels as if the author is dredging up her past for a therapist, rather than for readers. The author starkly outlines how her self-absorbed mother sought to find a new husband after barely acknowledging the family’s grief and loss. This sent the young author into a tailspin that would have disastrous consequences for her far into adulthood: “[My mother] smiled at us and made us food and pretended that we were real, but I don't think we were real to her. I think we were like dolls or like the oven.” Fortunately, as an adult, the author managed to carve out a life for herself. However, it was profoundly marred by the traumas of her past, which caused the destruction of one promising relationship after another. Later revelations about her late father are almost too much to bear, but they hold the key to her recovery. Overall, despite her life’s plagues and pestilence, Barker never loses her pluck, and as a result, readers won’t stop rooting for her.

An exceedingly dark, but ultimately uplifting, journey of self-discovery.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013

ISBN: 978-1931942966

Page Count: 110

Publisher: Galde Press

Review Posted Online: April 7, 2014

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.