An amusing compilation of Midwest-flavored wit and occasional astringency.
Habush offers a collection of comical essays, script parodies, and short humor pieces, a number of them riffing on the writing life.
In his first book-length compilation, Wisconsin-based humorist and radio commentator Habush dedicates the material (more or less) to the venerable Laurence Sterne. Sterne may not be a household name to Erma Bombeck’s or Garrison Keillor’s readers, but his 1759 Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is upheld as a landmark comic novel and a forerunner of self-referential metafiction. Similarly (and, thankfully, not as academician-wrought), Habush's collected essays and gag fiction open with the theme of literature—be it a wretched scribbler consulting a doctor about his unfortunate case of writer’s block, partygoers dealing with a metaphor-come-to-life dilemma of an actual elephant in a room, various personality types participating in book clubs, yesteryear’s sports journalists employing grammatical peculiarities, or the author comparing the persistent lousiness of TV (yes, even Downton Abbey) to the comfort of a good book. After the opener, the anthology tends to become more free-form, with several pieces as broadcast-script–format parodies and japes, burlesquing historical costume dramas (ancient Rome and Camelot, for instance) or the pretensions of community theater. Other entries explore aspects of Wisconsin living. The homespun voice of the author is consistent through the diverting and varying subject matter (“I received a notice from my Alma Mater, stating that it (she?) was conducting a nationwide search for a new Dean of Students. I thought that maybe I should apply mainly, because seeing how’s I’m a writer, I obviously didn’t have anything better to do”). And sometimes he hits a most thoughtful note, as in a mildly cautionary disquisition on how writers will pretend empathy for the plights of others. In fact, Habush affirms, they're just squirreling away emotional turmoil for when it becomes handy to use in the next story. Ouch.
An amusing compilation of Midwest-flavored wit and occasional astringency.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5172-1175-2
Page Count: 210
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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