A short memoir about a relationship, likely more helpful for the author than for readers.
Debut author Carter recalls the ups and downs of a promising romantic relationship that ended badly and the lessons she learned from the experience.
At age 35, Carter was ready for a serious relationship. After striking up a friendship with a man she worked with, she began dating him and was convinced she’d found the person she was supposed to be with forever. As the relationship wore on, however, it became clear that they wanted different things; after two years, he expressed no interest in getting married and was often emotionally distant. He and Carter tried couples counseling and were told that they would be better off apart. After taking a class on creative and personal growth, Carter finally found the strength to break up with him and move on with her life. The author’s honesty in revealing her own failings, along with her boyfriend’s, is admirable. But if the process of writing this memoir seems to have been cathartic, it contains very little advice that might be useful to the general reader. The last chapter, “The Lessons,” offers the author’s reflections on what she lost and gained in the relationship, but, like most of the chapters, it’s fewer than three pages long. Without more context, it’s hard to see why this relationship was so important to her. On the last page she notes, “As a child growing up in a physically and emotionally abusive house, the desire for being loved became my driving force.” This is the memoir’s first mention of abuse, and it may make readers wish she had included more information about her past. The memoir is formatted like a picture book, with colorful photographs of flowers throughout, but although the pictures are beautiful, they don’t add much to Carter’s story which, at just 23 pages long, might have been more effective as an essay.
A short memoir about a relationship, likely more helpful for the author than for readers.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-1452560465
Page Count: 30
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
