A dog conjures feelings in memoirist Knapp (Drinking: A Love Story, 1996) that she had never allowed to surface—the giddiness and vulnerability of full-blown love—and here she endeavors to understand why. To put it mildly, life had hit a rocky patch for Knapp: Her parents had both recently died, walking papers had been served to her boyfriend, and she—d jettisoned her old pal alcohol. In walked a dog, Lucille, a shepherd mix discovered at the local pound, and the rapport was immediate. For someone so “self-protective and locked into routines, so averse to commitment,” Knapp thawed and connected to the dog. But why, she wonders, indisposed to let a sleeping dog lie. What forces allow people to express and experience a love that they might never hazard with another human being? For Knapp it comes down to the “stability of fur”: Given the least chance, your dog will be there for you, accepting and ready to commune, never judgmental. Bookish by nature, Knapp has read and expresses opinions about a wide array of dog writers, from Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson to the Monks of New Skete, and she has been in contact with animal behaviorists and those who claim to communicate with dogs telepathically. And though she chides Masson for relying too heavily on anecdotes, her book is strewn with them, such as chance, telling encounters with folks out walking their dogs. For all the byways Knapp explores—dogs as agents of elucidation, vehicles for self-definition, metaphors for change, objects of indirect communication and projection—she is at her best painting the emotional landscape she inhabits with the one she loves: Lucille. Readers can’t help but feel Lucille is one lucky dog living with the (yes, at times, hyper-) attentive Knapp, who has through her dog learned to invest a relationship with exuberance, humor, and an openness to mystery. (Radio satellite tour)
Pub Date: June 12, 1998
ISBN: 0-385-31698-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998
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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