Some readers may wish Kincaid had occasionally turned her sharp eye on high culture, just to counterbalance all the pop...
Now better known as a fiction writer, Kincaid (My Garden, 1999, etc.) here collects “Talk of the Town” pieces written for The New Yorker between 1978 and 1983, offering a witty, quirky look at life in the Big Apple as seen through the eyes of a young, hip woman.
The essays include Kincaid’s very first assignment, a report on Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade, as well as the much-talked-about “Expense Account” budget of a press conference breakfast and her final “Talk” piece depicting a recording industry party at Mr. Chow’s restaurant. In between there are myriad musings on concerts, promotional parties, famous people (Gloria Vanderbilt, Ed Koch, Richard Pryor, Sting), the Junior Miss pageant, and gatherings of policemen and hotel industry employees. There are also some unexpectedly moving pieces. One concerns a woman (Kincaid, of course) who rides a train from Cleveland to New York one snowy night. Another examines the difference between “early morning” in the West Indies (5:30 a.m.) and in Manhattan (8:30 a.m.), then reveals how a New York transplant from the West Indies fills the time until her friends and business acquaintances arise: by reading articles in women’s magazines “about Elizabeth Taylor’s new, simple life” and “watching the morning news for one whole hour.” Kincaid’s writing is casual and comfortable, laced with repetitive phrases that pack a wallop. Some of the essays once considered classics (i.e., a piece written in the style of a Nancy Drew mystery novel) don’t seem quite so clever anymore. But others retain the whimsical charm of the pre–Tina Brown New Yorker, as in Kincaid’s description of bow-tie–clad Sandy, the dog from the Broadway musical Annie, making public appearances and “looking sad-eyed, the way all dogs look when they are around people eating.”
Some readers may wish Kincaid had occasionally turned her sharp eye on high culture, just to counterbalance all the pop coverage, but her admirers (and those of the magazine) will find this an enjoyable diversion.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2001
ISBN: 0-374-27239-5
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
