Sartre writes plays as if they were detective stories and this latest play is no exception to the rule. It moves within a high velocity of mystery designed to keep the audience awake at all costs. There are five principal characters — a German industrialist, his two sons, a daughter and a sister-in-law, but there is sufficient plot to accommodate a host of others. The hero of the play is one of the sons, Franz Gerlach, who represents the innocence of Germany betrayed by the terror of Hitler. He returned from the Russian front to cloister himself for thirteen years in his room. Here he had once harbored a Jew, fleeing from a pre-war concentration camp. His father has six months to live and now attempts to persuade the mad son to return to life. Gerlach's other children, the son destined to inherit the family fortune, and the daughter carrying on an incestuous affair with Franz, live under the domination of the man in the room. The main plot resolves itself when Franz confronts his father and, regaining his sanity, admits his guilt in the Nazi terror: he had been a torturer and his father was an informer. Both destroy themselves and the incestuous sister enters the room of guilt to commence her penance as the play ends. Fast moving, with considerable action and psychological revelation, The Condemned of Altona is a play in the European style. It has only one weakness — common to most modern European plays. The playwright, although affirming a love for humanity in the abstract, never seems to display any compassion towards his characters. Still it is exciting reading and should be better theater.
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 0393008894
Page Count: 178
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961
All Things Considered host Siegel selected the nearly 100 interviews here, all broadcast on NPR in 1993, with an eye to material ``that read well on the page.'' Capturing the breadth of subjects covered by NPR's shows, the book groups the interviews under ten section headings, including ``Arts and Letters,'' ``Science,'' ``The Story of the Year: Bosnia,'' ``Washington,'' and ``Animal Life.'' Robert McNamara reveals his intention to write an autobiography that will contain previously unpublished information about US intervention in Vietnam; Karen Armstrong talks about her book, A History of God; and the General Aviation liaison for the Anchorage International Airport unwittingly tells a story of worker exploitation in the tale of three pigs—Larry, Moe, and Curly—who, after successfully fulfilling their mission of gorging on gulls' eggs (to reduce the population of birds posing a hazard to aircraft), were respectfully turned into bacon. The interviews are remarkable for their brevity. Among broadcast media, NPR is notable for the comparatively evolved attention span it expects of its listeners; but laid out on the page, these interviews are so short that the book is an occasion more for pleasurable grazing than for the ``in-depth'' coverage on which NPR prides itself. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1994
ISBN: 0-395-70741-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994
Recipes that will give cooks many solid and simple options for creating family-dining traditions.
Spiced with memories of an Italian-American childhood in Brooklyn, this cookbook serves up a generous number of tried-and-true recipes for the family table.
The third cookbook from Celenza (Lunch is in the Bag, 2008, etc.), this culinary trove details more than 500 favorite recipes from the author, her friends and family. Divided into seasonal sections, which are supplemented by an extensive segments on pasta-centered meals and a final chapter devoted to sauces and dressings, the recipes are arranged mostly as complete menus. Typically, each of these includes a salad, an entrée and a dessert–and frequently a soup or vegetable. The emphasis is on Italian-American classics like fettuccine Alfredo, baked eggplant Parmagiano, and potato gnocchi, but there are nods to the melting pot with dishes like egg foo young, pastitsio, German potato salad, Irish soda bread and even an elaborate Thanksgiving feast with only a few nontraditional touches, like Italian sausage in the stuffing. The portions are invariably generous, but the author acknowledges contemporary concerns about health by including low-salt and low-fat alternative ingredients. The recipes shouldn’t exceed the capabilities of even casual cooks, as Celenza’s directions are clear and helpful without being overwhelming. She’s also specific, if forgiving, on measurements. If the author errs, it’s in being too explicit. Fresh strawberries, for example, don’t require a recipe, though the author’s desire to recreate the banquets of yesteryear may explain the impulse. Interspersed among the recipes are anecdotes and photos from Celenza’s past, snippets of culinary history and reflections on how food warms, sustains and nurtures us, physically, emotionally and spiritually. She evokes a sense not merely of the dishes but of the time, place and camaraderie that Celenza associates with them, giving a warm, human context to these family feasts. While this book has a homegrown scrapbook-like quality, its appeal is likely to extend well beyond even Celenza’s large extended family.
Recipes that will give cooks many solid and simple options for creating family-dining traditions.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9791-9532-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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