Assorted bric-a-brac from the cluttered cupboard of kamikaze journalist Thompson (The Curse of Longo, 1983, etc.). The writings—reprinted and original, fiction and reportage—span five decades, but the spirit is firmly 60's—zany, anachronistic, moral, frequently reeking with pot or alcohol fumes. The strongest, most controlled piece here—Thompson at his sharpest—is a 1983 Rolling Stone reprint about the Pulitzer divorce trial, an event surreal enough to meld happily to Thompson's fiery prose (which finds Palm Beach a place of "beserk sleaziness. . .where price tags mean nothing and the rich are always in heat, where pampered animals are openly worshipped in church and naked millionaires gnaw brassieres off the chest Of their own daughters in public"). Less successful are the new bits and pieces, which appear formulaically frenzied, with much attention paid to Thompson's recent, highly publicized legal problems. So: an erratically incandescent collection, full of curiosities but not nearly as marvelous as Thompson seems to think.
Pub Date: Nov. 14, 1990
ISBN: 671-42018-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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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