Bova, a staff member of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, reveals all she knows about Elvis, but her subject has been so intensely overexposed that even the most intimate details sound familiar. In 1969, in Las Vegas, Bova and a friend were hand-picked from a line of waiting show-goers to meet Elvis backstage. Bova believes that her instant rapport with the King grew out of the fact that she is a twin, as Elvis was, although his brother died at birth. Thus began her three-year relationship with a man who was obviously troubled and affected by giant mood swings. Though her own personality remains in the background, Bova manages a no-nonsense outlook and explains that she stood by her man because of love, even though he was married and had complete disregard for her career. Presley had some odd ideas about women: He was so insistent on purity that she hesitated to inform him that she was not a virgin (``In a way he was right, it would be `new' for me,'' she thought about her prospective sexual experience with him), and when Bova was pregnant (unbeknownst to him), he explained that once a woman had given birth he could no longer be attracted to her (she subsequently had an abortion). Presley's addiction to sleeping pills was a constant problem, but Bova had trouble confronting him about it and took them herself at his insistence. Bova also outlines the King's spiritual side, which involved vague, self- important beliefs that he was teaching people through music and that he was ``put here on earth to serve a special purpose'' with his unique powers. A somewhat pathetic portrait of the entertainer limping toward death. (16-page photo insert, not seen) (First serial to National Star; Literary Guild alternate selection)
Pub Date: July 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8217-4616-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1994
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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