A series of visits to nine different desert areas in the American West and Southwest, by the author of Night Life (1989), etc. Over an 18-month period, logging 25,000 miles, Kappel-Smith recorded her observations of life and death in the desert, and made line drawings of everything she saw, from animals to the cacti and dunes. Visiting the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, where she spent time with the present residents, and the ruins of the Anasazi (an unknown people) in Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, Kappel- Smith attempted to record what life was and is like in these areas, even establishing a new measure of speed along the way—``bpm,'' or bats por minuto, the rate at which 250,000 bats exit Carlsbad Caverns. She visited Devil's Mole in Nevada, a pool of water the depths of which no one has yet plumbed—although some have tried and disappeared. She spent the night in a near-ruined hotel in Silver City, Idaho, a historic mining town in the mountains: The hotel has no linen, so visitors have to use sleeping bags. She also hunted down prospectors and recorded their conversations. Kappel-Smith's descriptions are precise (``The rim of the sky is the dusty blue of bleached jeans''), but she seems more comfortable with the plants and animals than with the characters she meets. There's something of a distancing effect when it comes to people, but, otherwise: a very well-done wilderness diary.
Pub Date: Nov. 10, 1992
ISBN: 0-316-48298-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992
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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