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THERE IS A PLACE ON EARTH

Name: THERE IS A PLACE ON EARTH
Author: Giuliana Tedeschi
ISBN: 0-679-40303-5

A WOMAN IN BIRKENAU

by Giuliana Tedeschi ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1992

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Unique concentration-camp memoir by an Italian Jewess who was sent to Birkenau in April 1944, and later moved to Auschwitz. Italy's fascist government was paid 5,000 lire for every Jew turned over to the Germans. One of these was Tedeschi, who found herself parted from her husband, two daughters, and her mother-in- law: Only she and her children survived the war. Tedeschi's memoir is unusual in that she and the women she barracked with were stripped of their sexuality (starvation, for one thing, halted menstruation) and turned into neuter beings. It makes for a strange tale to identify with a human being treated and self-seen as a third kind of being. The author's worst moments came in the fierce grip of memories that could sweep over her, dangerously—for example, of combing her daughters' hair: ``And like a devouring cancer the nostalgic thought of my daughters would take hold of me, together with the vivid, tormenting sensation of the warmth of their skin, the softness of their curls. You felt at once the need to remember, to lose yourself in yearning....'' Meanwhile, the Germans had Tedeschi working in sand-pits, then in the shoe- dismantling shop where tons of shoes from prisoners being burned in the Birkenau furnaces were taken apart and shipped for further use back to Germany. As would be true of anyone mired in such horror, Tedeschi seldom got the big picture, only rare glimpses of what seemed like thousands of barracks just like hers stretching away into the distance. Each day, she and her companions feared being selected for the furnaces. Later, in Auschwitz, life was slightly easier: Auschwitz had no furnaces, so there was no daily selection. The author's story ends with a tremendous death-march on which she went without food for ten days, until the Russians and French arrived. Sharply, even poetically written, under waves of nightmare.

Pub Date: May 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-679-40303-5

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1992

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.