To all those who dream of opening a restaurant, this uninspired account of an uninspired and unsuccessful enterprise offers little comfort. Both of the partners in The Falls, which opened in downtown Manhattan in March 1990 and closed 14 months later, were veterans of separate restaurant ventures, and they assembled a handful of semi-famous investors, most notably actor Matt Dillon, who attracted some celebrity-watchers and raised hopes that the place would be ``hot'' (a favorite term of the restaurant team and their seemingly like-minded chronicler). But neither the owners nor the models who got free meals and drinks in return for their miniskirted presence could make up for the ``comps'' (free fare) one partner handed out to his many friends; the manager-partner's skimming from the till; the scaffolding over the door; the chaotic service; the probable small miscalculations in menu-planning and plate-selection and whatever; the mysterious chemistry of N.Y.C. night life; and, to judge from the evidence herein, the general absence of vision. For a while, the place was packed; by the end, it was understandably empty. Blum, a free-lance journalist (The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, etc.), hung out during the planning and life span of the project and here reports on day-to-day trials and conversations in short sentences and one-dimensional thoughts. The overall impression is of a superficial scene, a senseless business, and shallow participants. Blum, though properly impartial, shows no evidence of either deeper thought or the wit needed to make the story sparkle.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-671-68692-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1992
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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