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SUDDENLY, MEXICO!

Name: SUDDENLY, MEXICO!
Author: Katherine Hatch
ISBN: 978-1-4392-4585-9

by Katherine Hatch ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A glowing, tangy slice of life from a quirky Shangri-la.

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An American woman finds her bliss south of the border in this beguiling memoir.

The semi-mythical distillation of the author’s impressions of her home of 40 years–the village of Paraiso in Mexico’s Sierra Madre–is almost as perfect as its name implies. There is gorgeous weather, a scent of orange blossoms and jasmine wafting on the breeze, a 16th-century church said to have been built by Cortes, and Popocatepetl, an active volcano whose eruptions add an occasional note of drama to the town’s tranquility. It has two very different but equally colorful kinds of people. The first are the salt-of-the-earth locals, who enjoy their simple pleasures and take everything in stride, not excluding the presence of a flamboyant transsexual hairdresser. (They’re not so friendly to a priggish new padre who causes an uproar by banning alcohol at the big church fiesta and is finally run out of town for having a secret wife.) The second are the wealthy expatriates who winter in Paraiso, bringing with them their shady pasts and decadent proclivities. These include the imperious Countess Simi, the pot-addled Madame Natalia and a floating community of spies–one of whom ruins a cocktail party by accusing another guest of a cryptic betrayal. The well-connected author also includes cameos from movie stars Helen Hayes–whose autobiography she co-wrote–and Gloria Swanson, a stridently rude vegetarian. Hatch is deliriously in love with her adopted homeland, warts and all; on a rattletrap train ride, besieged by vendors hawking everything from orchids to â€œmiracle salts,” she buys one of each. In this collection of lighthanded sketches, her limpid prose exquisitely captures the sleepy rhythms and warm customs of village life along with the antic high life of the expat demimonde.

A glowing, tangy slice of life from a quirky Shangri-la.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: 978-1-4392-4585-9

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

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.