A different sort of Native American autobiography from novelist and Coeur d'Alene tribal member Hale (The Jailing of Cecelia Capture, 1985). Offering no ``visions of spirits, drums and feathers,'' these overlapping essays instead focus with pathos, though not much insight, on ``family dysfunction.'' Hale's Canadian-born mother, of mixed Indian and white descent, grew up English-speaking in white society but left an abusive and racist white first husband (losing custody of two children) for Hale's father and life on the Coeur d'Alene reservation. The author, ten years younger than the closest of her three older sisters, never witnessed the domestic violence that marred the early days of the marriage, but she was aware of her beloved father's occasional drunken binges and her mother's fury as she repeatedly packed Janet up and fled, taking menial work in a variety of towns in the Northwest. Hale says that she became the family scapegoat to her mother and sisters, enduring all-but- inexplicable rejection and constant verbal abuse. She recounts some Northwest history from a Native American perspective, and jumps through her own passage from single parenthood to Berkeley to lecture tours and a university appointment as a distinguished visiting writer. Family ties are important, she realizes, but those who come from destructive families must break away. Rather than family heritage, the author clings to the most admired quality among the old Coeur d'Alene: ``Courage has been bred into you. It's in your blood.'' Hale never quite brings herself or her world to life here, but, given her past, readers will be relieved at her survival and success.
Pub Date: June 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-679-41527-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
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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