by Helen Trepelkov ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 9, 2018
Sometimes rambling but always loving, a sentimental look at a mother's life.
In this debut memoir, a Russian immigrant to America cobbles together family stories and her reflections on child-rearing.
When she was 23, Trepelkov and her husband, Alex, flew from Russia to New York to begin an exciting new life. It was the early 1980s, and Alex would soon become immersed in his job at the United Nations. She was offered a position at the U.N. Library. The daughter of a Soviet diplomat, she had been an outstanding student with much promise in the professional world. But when she discovered she was pregnant, she turned down the U.N. job offer and decided to become a stay-at-home mom. Now a grandmother, the author was inspired to share these tender family tales and parenting ideas after reading Amy Chua’s popular book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which Chua claims to have raised her American daughters the way a Chinese mother would. Though Trepelkov doesn’t profess to have raised her daughters the “Russian way,” she can relate to being a mom with a different cultural background in America. Her mothering style is more laid-back than Chua’s. For example, she exposed her girls to arts and sports without demanding they be the best. The most compelling parts of her account vividly describe her struggles to fit in. In the Soviet Union, her family was part of the elite—and socializing with foreigners was discouraged—so in America, organizing a daughter’s birthday party proved difficult. Trepelkov’s prose is smooth, but sometimes the narrative flow is slowed down by mundane memories, like the time an administrator called her father to discuss her placement in seventh-grade language classes. Jumping from thought to thought, the style is diarylike—one anecdote about ice skating is interrupted by a vignette about her daughter’s wish to become a ballerina. But the author also includes many of her Russian family stories, which are memorably sweet. For example, like O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi,” her grandfather sold his prized silver cigarette case to buy his wife a pair of shoes.
Sometimes rambling but always loving, a sentimental look at a mother's life.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68433-084-3
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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