by Jessica Aiken-Hall ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2017
A memoir of a grueling upbringing captures the author’s misery and hope but might have benefited from more robust...
A woman tells of an unstable childhood, an abusive marriage, and years of emotional recovery in this debut memoir.
Aiken-Hall writes that she was born into chaos: as her mother, Wendy, gave birth to her in 1981, police escorted her unstable father, Ralph, from the hospital for harassing a nurse. Due to severe depression, alcohol use, and affairs with cruel men, Aiken-Hall says, her mother couldn’t provide a stable home, and it fell to the author’s maternal grandmother, known as “Gram,” to provide love and comfort. Wendy and Ralph soon resumed their relationship after Aiken-Hall’s birth, she says, but the two split again after Wendy had an affair and Ralph threatened to murder the whole family. The author writes that Wendy then moved in with a new partner who molested her while her mother watched; Ralph, already ill from paranoid schizophrenia and a genetic disorder, died after a construction-related accident. Aiken-Hall struggled with feelings of shame, confusion, and grief, which she says were only endurable due to Gram’s much-needed unconditional love. After a string of failed teenage romances and an emotional affair with a co-worker, Aiken-Hall says that she became ensnared by an abusive man who coerced her into sex and demanded her hand in marriage after she became pregnant. Aiken-Hall had three children with him and weathered the loss of Gram while gradually moving toward change and healing. Aiken-Hall’s insights in this memoir can be striking at times; she writes movingly, for instance, about how she returned to abusive situations because she’d always craved affection, and about her terrifying youthful realization that Gram would inevitably die, depriving her of her only source of love. But readers may wish that there were deeper reflections about her relationships with specific family members. Most prominently, Aiken-Hall’s mother, despite being mentioned in the book’s title, remains an elusive and mostly undefined figure, beyond her parenting failures. As a result, a climactic moment when the author forgives her mother lacks impact.
A memoir of a grueling upbringing captures the author’s misery and hope but might have benefited from more robust examinations of key relationships.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9993656-7-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Moonlit Madness Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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