So here is a brave attempt at a tough job and a good bathroom book in the bargain.
This book of redefined definitions is haunted by the ghost of Ambrose Bierce, who wrote The Devil’s Dictionary (1911).
It’s gutsy to challenge the master, and for that, the author deserves our compliments and our sympathies. Writer Radovic (Observations, 1966, etc.) is not, in fact, trying to ape Bierce, at least not explicitly. He points out in the preface that some definitions are “attempts at humor and satire...[but] the rest are observations and opinions with which the reader may agree or disagree….” In other words, he can be snarky when temptation calls, but he can also be thoughtful. This is not a review of The Devil’s Dictionary, however, so just one comparison of definitions will suffice. “Bore: a person from whom the more we hear the less we want to” (Radovic); “Bore: a person who talks when you wish him to listen” (Bierce). This is instructive: Not only is Bierce pithier, but he also, characteristically, skewers the smug reader. Radovic is less the entertainer than the philosopher. And witty entertainment has a shorter shelf life than does thoughtful reflection, so in many ways, Radovic is the steadier companion. Often, Radovic’s definitions turn into mini-essays, but here are some of the shorter ones: “emulation: copying to which a plagiarist may admit”; “ignoramus: one who is aware of what he knows, as a wise man is aware of what he does not”; “insomnia: a rarely recognized opportunity for reflection”; “poverty: freedom from many things money can buy”; “myth: invention that, however hollow and false it may be, is often as durable as the interests it serves.” (Part of the fun is trying to tease out Radovic’s political/philosophical bent.) Such compilations are harder to write than they might seem, and a lot of brainwork went into this one.
So here is a brave attempt at a tough job and a good bathroom book in the bargain.Pub Date: July 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0989713108
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Igor D. Radovic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
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
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