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AMAZON EXTREME

Name: AMAZON EXTREME
Author: Colin Angus
ISBN: 0-7679-1050-8

THREE ORDINARY GUYS, ONE RUBBER RAFT, AND THE MOST DANGEROUS RIVER ON EARTH

by Colin Angus with Ian Mulgrew ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 2002

The kind of journey that makes the reader's armchair feel particularly warm and snug.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.