Coster, a British journalist, novelist (Train, Train, not reviewed), and former editor of Granta, wondered what it would be like to be a long-distance trucker, so he took to the roads of Europe and America. When a writer says, ``I . . . even like motorway service stations,'' you know you are in the hands of an amiable nut. Coster fits that description to a fare-thee-well, and his book is a delightful combination of travel, sociology, and humor, a trucker's tour of the roads between London and Moscow, New York and California. ``Almost everything that we need, everything we use, goes for some part of its journey by road, on a large truck,'' Coster writes at the outset of the book. In his first trip, he and Tony, a British driver, transport fine wines and Baskin Robbins ice cream to a wintry Moscow (the journey's description includes a disquisition on why Snickers bars are the perfect trucker's breakfast). Even the parts of which the trucks themselves are made, as he learns in his westward journey through America, are carried by trucks. Coster is a keenly observant traveler, self-deprecating and clever. Whether he is characterizing the powerful air brakes that give ``an 11-ton truck a shorter stopping distance than a family car'' or trying to determine why country music goes so well with the trucker's life (the rhythms, mellower than those of rock 'n' roll, accord with life on the road), he is both insightful and funny. He even includes a discography. Chapters on truck-driving school (he fails) and truck racing (yes, truck racing) add flavor to his tales of the road. Above all, Coster takes these working stiffs seriously on their own terms, without condescension and with considerable sympathy. Both the author and his subjects emerge as likable guys. A splendidly funny and intelligent piece of travel writing.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-86547-489-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: North Point/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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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