A gentle and quiet real-life adventure.
In Walker’s first book, readers are invited to join him on an autobiographical travelogue as he takes a meandering course across the heart of Canada.
Departing from Nova Scotia on the east coast, Walker drove his SUV as far north as the Yukon and as far west as British Columbia. A breezy, genial writer with an agreeable curiosity, he recalls the journey in a pleasant, conversational tone. The adventure also had a more somber side, though, as Walker—a retired attorney from Ontario and a longtime fighter for human rights—came to terms with the death of his spouse of many years. He spent the summer of 2012 healing and growing, taking a leisurely interest in the world around him: the wildlife, farmers rushing to bring their crops in before the rain, making new friends, and visiting long-absent family members. His journal entries take readers with him in the present tense, each moment unfolding as it did for him. He offers quiet encouragement to would-be travelers as well as a few handy tips on how they can head out on the road, too. With evenhanded opinions, he offers a verbal map of worthwhile sites for each place he visited, places readers will most likely wish to experience themselves, either on a long drive-about or in a day trip. The text is clean, if a bit undistinguished, and the descriptions of places, people, and events are clear and easy to understand. Most importantly, Walker’s long experience as a storefront attorney has made him comfortable around all sorts of people, and his openness to new interactions is infectious. Some travel books are about explorers dogged by disaster; this one is about an explorer of humanity. His inward journey toward accepting loss and things past is subtle and easily missed if the reader is in a hurried mood. Like Walker’s trip across Canada, the text should be enjoyed slowly.
A gentle and quiet real-life adventure.Pub Date: April 20, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4602-6683-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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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