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CLEFT HEART

Name: CLEFT HEART
Author: Karl Schonborn
ISBN: 978-0989785020

CHASING NORMAL

by Karl Schonborn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 2013

An often instructive memoir, particularly for anyone seeking to help a young person overcome bullying’s crushing effects.

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In this debut memoir, a victim of childhood bullying fights back and goes on to have a normal, happy adult life.

Schonborn, a professor emeritus (Sociology/California State Univ.; Violence and Conflict, 2nd Ed., 2004, etc.), here offers his first effort at creative nonfiction. He was born with a cleft lip and palate, and after his first day of kindergarten, he complained that no one seemed to understand him when he spoke. His mother, wise beyond her years, reassured him by saying that the other children “needed to be better listeners.” The author writes charmingly of his childhood, particularly when he describes the many ways his birth defect affected his young parents and siblings. For example, while Schonborn’s 2-year-old sister watched her mother use an eyedropper to feed him as a new baby, she declared, “He’s a bird and I don’t like him.” Soon, however, that same sister became the author’s fierce protector from schoolyard bullies. Schonborn eventually grew up to pursue a successful academic career—and win the heart of a beautiful girl who looked like film actress Audrey Hepburn. The prose loses some of its charm, however, when the author labors to provide historical context for his relatively privileged coming-of-age in the 1960s and his academic career studying the causes of social conflict and violence. Some readers may also wish the book had told them more about Schonborn’s beloved mother; after she taught her son how to be accepted and live a normal life, she succumbed to loss and loneliness in her early 50s. The author’s account of his mother’s death, informed by knowledge he gained as a first-year medical student, brings this coming-of-age memoir to a suspenseful close. Many readers, including parents with children struggling to be treated as “normal,” will likely find Schonborn’s mother to be an inspiration.

An often instructive memoir, particularly for anyone seeking to help a young person overcome bullying’s crushing effects.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2013

ISBN: 978-0989785020

Page Count: 380

Publisher: Wayman Publishing

Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2013

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

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

- BOOK REVIEW
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.