Laid-back and quite competent, if not consistently soul-stirring, certainly well-enough executed to be enjoyed in the shade...
From the South Florida School of American Literature, home to both Ernest Hemingway and Dave Barry, comes hard-working Hall: erstwhile poet, current thriller-writer, and sometime English teacher here undertaking a new form.
For three years, while he kept the action going in his spirited adventures (Blackwater Sound, 2002, etc.), the author also found a friendly format in the short essays he contributed monthly to a Florida newspaper. The collected pieces deal with a variety of subjects, but most are related to the splendor of the Peninsula State, from the myriad shells of Sanibel to the wonderful feeling of sunburn-grade warmth on the epidermis. “We have only two seasons in south Florida, summer and not-quite-summer,” he declares. But the sunshine is not unabated. There are the casinos in the Everglades, the feral Florida drivers, the young muggers, and don’t forget the Disneyfication. “Before we know it,” Hall warns, “we’ll be living in a place concocted by cartoonists.” But despite his holidays in the hills of North Carolina (that’s where native Floridians can be found in summer), the author’s devotion to the birthplace of the early-bird special is unfailing. Along with the fright engendered by hurricanes, his musings venture beyond the shuffleboard courts to describe unpleasant dealings with hustling TV producers and humiliating book tours. As seems de rigueur in an essay collection, Hall pays homage to the pleasures of books and reading, as well as offering appreciations of the Hardy Boys and Papa Hemingway. He provides a choice glimpse of James Dickey in action, and a heartfelt eulogy for his late father signals the author’s fundamental decency. But does he really go fishing for dolphin?
Laid-back and quite competent, if not consistently soul-stirring, certainly well-enough executed to be enjoyed in the shade with the sound of the surf not far away.Pub Date: June 24, 2002
ISBN: 0-312-28859-X
Page Count: 256
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
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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