TRAVELING HIGH & TRIPPING HARD

Name: TRAVELING HIGH & TRIPPING HARD
Author: Joseph Davida
ISBN: 978-0-9993975-0-3

by Joseph Davida ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 2018

Despite some rambling stories, this account paints a vivid picture of a world traveler bent on illicit explorations.

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A debut memoir chronicles one man’s global adventures with drugs.

Davida’s book begins with a bizarre event on Long Island. The author, 8 years old at the time, somehow consumed PCP and had a psychedelic event that lasted 14 hours. The experience presented a number of dark visions (an apparition of Hitler even told the boy he had to kill his parents). But rather than turning Davida away from recreational drugs, the incident was merely the beginning. In the years that followed, the author hunted down high-grade marijuana in the Pacific Northwest, consumed black hash in Nepal, and smoked something called Ya-Ba in Thailand. As he chased different highs in diverse places, he also sought some sort of understanding about the world. A loose spiritual undertaking is woven into the recollections as Davida, for instance, visited South America with the fuzzy notion that he was on “a mission to save the world.” The author also happened to be traveling through the Middle East during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Following the death of his father (whose ashes he carried), he had a deeply emotional experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Israel. It is in these last two tales that the book is at its most noteworthy. Stories of scoring cheap but excellent hash in Nepal, relayed in a conversational style (“I was ready to kiss him!” Davida writes of the man who got the drugs), may be informative, but they are not really engaging. Many authors have told meandering tales of looking for drugs, but more personal material, such as memories from an infamous day in American history, gives the book its staying power. In the end, readers will get to know the author not just as someone who traveled the world looking to score, but as a man who experienced fear, loathing, and the loss of a loved one as well. And it is in the unveiling of a relatable person that the memoir is able to transcend its rote passages.

Despite some rambling stories, this account paints a vivid picture of a world traveler bent on illicit explorations.

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-9993975-0-3

Page Count: 218

Publisher: Dark Planet Press

Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

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THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.