An equivocal play- both as to form and content- whose admixture of so many disparate elements fails to jell. Socio-political in intent, it is peopled by a cast of characters whose place in a future America of about 1975 does not obscure their blood relationship to the neurotic inhabitants of Mr. Wilson's previous Hecate County. Horror story author, Julius Gandersheim, returns to his ancestral home in search of his imaginary monster, Shidnate Slyme, and stays on to help his tenant publisher, Frank Brock, fight a journalistic battle for American freedom against political power factions and other menaces such as Frank's nymphomaniac wife, her decadent boy friend and a polymorphic gardner who speaks first with an Italian accent then Irish, Scottish and Russian, finally turning out to be the Wandering Jew. Although Gandersheim and the gardener try to help honest Frank, they are all exterminated by a souped up ray gun in the shape of a flashlight which blows everyone up — Thank God — all except the gardener, that is, who delivers a philosophical epilogue on "he prayeth best, who loveth best, etc." or words to that effect. Make mine Coleridge, upon consideration he is really less old hat than this is.
Pub Date: May 19, 1950
ISBN: 0374526664
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Co
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1950
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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