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A Lullaby of Flies

Name: A Lullaby of Flies
Author: Kimberly Presa
ISBN: 978-1-5327-4189-0

by Kimberly Presa ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2016

A funny, affecting, but ultimately overlong remembrance of struggle and growth.

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In this debut memoir, Presa reflects on a life that included bulimia, homelessness, military service, motherhood, and complicated love.

The author says she struggled with her weight from a young age and developed crippling social anxiety that kept her from forging friendships. When she discovered bulimia at age 14, it seemed like an answer to her problems: she could continue to find solace in food, she thought, but avoid the weight that caused her to be ostracized. However, the sickness would become a lasting problem in her life, further complicated by the suicide of her mother when she was 15. After the author fled her deteriorating family, her life became a gritty procession of nights in tents, cars, and even caves. The cold and discomfort were still preferable, she says, to staying at her father’s house with her antagonistic stepmother. She impulsively decided to join the Air Force at age 19 after news footage from Hurricane Katrina convinced her to take a more active role in society. At 21, she married a man in the Air Force stationed in South Korea whom she’d known for four months “and had seen in person only a handful of times” and later had a child with him. In the Air Force, she found structure, friendship, and self-esteem, but she still made plenty of mistakes in life. Hurtling from one tenuous situation to the next, she had to discover the strength to save her own life. Overall, Presa is a talented writer, and with her punchy, maximalist prose style, she engulfs the reader in a sea of sharp observations and sardonic humor. For example, she begins her chapter about her Air Force basic-training experience with the line, “Nestled amongst the sobs and moans of misery of others, I smiled.” Unfortunately, though, this same maximalism extends to the excessive length of the memoir; at 588 pages, it’s twice as long as it should have been. Greater concision and more selectivity when choosing among her memories might have made for a better-paced and ultimately more compelling read.

A funny, affecting, but ultimately overlong remembrance of struggle and growth.

Pub Date: April 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-5327-4189-0

Page Count: 620

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: June 14, 2016

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.