Too bad, since these extraordinary tales don’t require such hype.
An intrepid Indian journalist recalls covering some of the nastiest stories on earth, involving civil war, casual murder, catastrophic weather, and profound human misery.
Former CNN New Delhi bureau chief Pratap is a wonderful reporter with all senses alert to the most significant details of the scenes she describes. We hear, feel, smell, taste, and see the disturbing stories that were also her specialty at periodicals from India Today to Time. The longest portion here deals with the bitter conflicts in Sri Lanka, the “island of blood” where Pratap battled the elements, insects, and frighteningly dangerous young men brandishing weapons to bring her horror stories to page and screen. She gained privileged access to the opposition forces and their charismatic but ruthless chief, Pirabhakaran, who granted her numerous interviews. Pratap strongly denies any intimate relationship between them, though she expresses a kind of admiration for the strength of Pirabhakaran’s will. Turning to Afghanistan, she relates the rise of the Taliban, once again displaying her journalistic chops in sentences like this one describing a corpse in the street: “Gradually, the dead soldier crumbled into the dust of his doomed land.” She chronicles the Hindus’ destruction in 1992 of the abandoned Muslim mosque, Babri Masjid, and the ensuing savage reprisals. She portrays the horrific 1991 cyclone in Bangladesh, describing in bitter detail what wind and tide and time can do to the fragile human frame. She ends with wrenching accounts of suffering children she has seen, followed by a brief epilogue about the psychological effects this wretchedness has wrought upon her. For contrast, the author occasionally intercuts scenes from her comfortable life at home. Regrettably, clichés and platitudes frequently muffle the impact of Pratap’s sharp reporting, and she’s all too willing to quote others about how talented and fearless she is.
Too bad, since these extraordinary tales don’t require such hype.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-14-302906-1
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2003
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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