by Christopher de Vinck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1991
Treacly boluses of inspiration, some previously published in Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. De Vinck, who teaches high-school English in New Jersey, offers essays of one to five pages with titles such as ``Illuminations,'' ``A Daughter's Question,'' and ``Children Know Best.'' Although the book is divided into sections—''Childhood,'' ``Adolescence,'' ``Family,'' ``Career,'' and so on—de Vinck says in his introduction that it's ``really'' about the voices of his mother and father and ``the extraordinary whistling sound [of the wind] as it rushed past the weather stripping of the front door.'' De Vinck's subtext is that adults are essentially corrupt and children are innocence and light, therefore closer to God—an idealized view of childhood that has children gathering flowers, discovering lizards in the pond, and dressing up in clothes found in the attic: There is no sickness, no rage or shame, no bad parents. De Vinck calls up Yeats, T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Dickens, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, Goethe, and others- -curiously, without quoting—perhaps to show that his saccharine sagas are grounded in great literature. He informs us that ``The moon is one of the saddest objects in the sky...''; that ``We all [need] something that is rooted in memory, in desire, and in loneliness...''; and that ``A green smile-face card is on the refrigerator.'' Readers looking for the wonders of childhood will have better luck with Blake, Twain, or Erik Erikson. Somewhere, Mary Poppins is gagging.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-670-83876-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1991
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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