by KatOë Prinsloo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 30, 2015
An erotic memoir that explores self-revelation (both witting and unwitting) with laughter and sighs.
A young South African woman traces the story of her life through 26 men she has bedded.
Debut author Prinsloo had always been a bit precocious. As a girl in Johannesburg, she tried to kiss at least one boy for every letter of the alphabet. In college, her horizons expanded, and by the time she worked as a banker and lived on her own, her little black book had grown voluminous. This volume is that little book, only annotated and dramatized. As Prinsloo’s life unfolded, she became “Miss Popularity amongst men of all ages, shapes, and sizes.” First there was Abia, who comforted her where her brother was killed in a crash, and with whom she “tested new positions that Cosmopolitan’s editors would pay good money to depict and write about.” Then there’s Herseney, who had her screaming “sopranos, octaves, and high decibels.” He impregnated three other women, was forced to marry one, but snuck off from his reception to visit Prinsloo once more. There was Aziz—much older and less attractive than represented online—but “the ugly old man was a good kisser.” More than once, Prinsloo found “the one” only to meet with heartache or misfortune. Readers will be entertained by the carnality of the author’s appetites and worried about her during hard times. Prinsloo does a nice job of catching up her non–South African readers on the tricky racial politics of growing up, and going out as a “colored,” or mixed-race woman. The various men do blend together in spots, though for the most part, Prinsloo draws each character distinctly (including a bit of rough language for her fellow femmes fatales—some are “harlots,” some are “skanks”). Occasionally, a character’s motivation may seem unclear or the author’s behavior contradictory. More than a few readers are bound to identify either with the protagonist or with her variously lucky and unlucky conquests.
An erotic memoir that explores self-revelation (both witting and unwitting) with laughter and sighs.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5049-8928-2
Page Count: 246
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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