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RED FLOWER DAYS

Name: RED FLOWER DAYS
Author: Astrid Buchhammer
ISBN: 978-0692332849

STEPPING OUT OF THE DARK

by Astrid Buchhammer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2014

A moving, hopeful book, but one that occasionally feels more like a therapeutic exercise than a complete work.

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In this debut memoir, a child abuse survivor recounts how she coped with the flood of intrusive memories that forced her to relive her painful past.

Buchhammer was a happily married young mother when disturbing memories began invading her thoughts. The first was of her stepfather Holger—a high-ranking officer in the East German military—crushing the head of a kitten and warning her, “This is what I will do to you if you tell anyone our secret.” More vivid and upsetting recollections soon followed, forcing Astrid to revisit the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Holger and other pedophiles. Her mother, herself a victim of Holger’s violence, was unable to stop the abuse, and the authority figures she turned to for help betrayed her. Decades later, flashbacks to these events left her virtually incapacitated. Only with the help of a patient, understanding therapist and her supportive husband, Thomas, was Buchhammer able to begin to live again. Drawing on unvarnished memories and using simple, direct language, she shows the ways abusers use power to control their victims, as well as how a community that looks the other way can allow abuse to continue. She doesn’t hesitate to share the most graphic details of her experiences, and many may find these brutal passages difficult to get through. However, the barrage of horrors is mitigated by the alternation of chapters set in the past (which offer a fascinating window into East German life in the 1970s and ’80s) with those set in the present. The primary focus throughout is naturally on Buchhammer, particularly the heartbreaking isolation and fear she experienced as a child. Except for Holger, the other characters remain ciphers. Buchhammer offers few theories about her mother’s relationship with Holger or why she endured the years of torment at his hands. The years between Buchhammer’s decision to leave home as a teen and her life nearly two decades later are also frustratingly blank. The central theme is instead her successful and inspiring refusal to let her horrifying childhood destroy her present happiness.

A moving, hopeful book, but one that occasionally feels more like a therapeutic exercise than a complete work.

Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2014

ISBN: 978-0692332849

Page Count: 292

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2015

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.