The kind of journey that makes the reader's armchair feel particularly warm and snug.
A fine, old-fashioned adventure yarn about a hellacious raft trip down the Amazon, told with wide-eyed brio.
The idea was for young madman Angus and his two chums to cross South America from the Pacific to the Atlantic, first by trekking through the Peruvian high desert into the Andes, where they would start a journey down the Amazon from its headwaters. The three choose to begin on Apurimac River, the Amazon’s longest known tributary and a plausible contender as the great river's source, but getting to it nearly kills them; they badly misjudge the amount of water they need. Mind you, almost the entire raft trip poses near-fatal threats. Angus brings a charming, openhearted thirst for adventure to the proceedings, which he frames as a daily log—nicely polished, presumably thanks to Mulgrew. These pages don’t feature a lot of introspection, but they’re also refreshingly free of portentousness, favoring slam-bang episodes of suicidal behavior laced with doses of humor. (After nearly dying of thirst in the desert, one fellow observes of the ratty pool they finally find, “Tastes like shit, mates. The question is, Will it kill me?”) Riding the river on rubber whitewater raft can only be compared to entering a Maytag washer set to spin cycle. One fierce dunking follows another: “Everything went white and quiet. The screams disappeared. So did the world. I realized I was holding my breath and being sucked down.” The three display ingenuity and surprising resourcefulness, approaching each vicious cataract with a loony gameness (“It was doable, we decided”) and meeting lots of folks who think they are insane (“He spoke to us as if he considered us retarded”). Slower days on the lower river are not as much fun.
The kind of journey that makes the reader's armchair feel particularly warm and snug.Pub Date: April 9, 2002
ISBN: 0-7679-1050-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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