A poetic examination of gardens and gardeners that manages to evoke the healing power of the natural world.
Poet and writer Hicks celebrates the rewards and lessons of gardening in a debut collection of short, lyrical essays.
The author begins with a brief foreword that identifies gardens as providing “metaphors for living,” as every stage of life and death is apparent within them. The prose sketches that follow trace and retrace the cycle of seasons in nature and in a cultivated garden as well as small miracles of rural life, from a seed’s sprouting to a herd of Angus cows’ taking care of a fawn. “The Intrinsic Readiness of Spring” commemorates an unusually long titular season in the southwestern Ohio garden that Hicks keeps with her husband, George; spring bulbs that “tear up through the soil and explode into the warming air” parallel the human soul that “emerges from hibernation.” “Summer Dreaming” recognizes the value of shade to keep plants and humans from dissipating their vital energies in the heat of summer. “The Sleeping Garden” is a prose poem set in winter while “On Solitude” is a meditation on the role of the garden in providing peaceful alone time “without the guilt.” Other pieces tell of relationships with neighbors and the extravagant delights of vegetable gardening as well as a foray into winemaking. Hicks’ language is lush and evocative, like the blooming plants that she describes. For instance, after she plucks a ravenous grasshopper from a climbing rose and throws it into a nearby pond, she imagines that the fish “feasted on the insect stuffed with leaves and rose petals.” Although one might wish that the author’s observations would extend more frequently beyond her own garden, the limited scope gives it a cozy, familiar tone and a welcoming warmth. Overall, this collection shows the author’s careful, observant eye and her passionate appreciation of natural beauty.
A poetic examination of gardens and gardeners that manages to evoke the healing power of the natural world.Pub Date: March 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-615-53968-3
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Sea Eagle Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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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