Gives the impression of being scrawled during lunch hour for publication in a free local listings guide.
Perhaps intent on proving that her title is in no way hyperbolic, Arizona Republic humor columnist Notaro details the mundanities of life in such a way as to make herself and her friends appear as klutzy, inept, and alcoholic as possible.
A single woman in her 20s, Notaro floats through life in an unremarkable American anywhere (you barely know it’s Arizona), inhabiting a landscape she never bothers to describe except to mention its many bars. The subject of nearly every extremely short essay is some kind of excruciating embarrassment experienced by either Notaro or her friends. We witness the author being shamed by her ratty underwear on a doctor's visit, mistaken for a homeless person when she reports for jury duty, and required to explain President Clinton's sexual transgressions to her 82-year-old grandmother. She introduces Joel, who announces he's happy to be dumb because less is expected of him; “Fun and Frolic Jamie,” so dubbed after consuming a 12-pack and ending up “drunk, topless, and unconscious”; and Jeff, characterized only by his mania for a limited-offer Taco Bell entree. Notaro also describes her long-suffering mother and her beloved Nana; their portraits are the only ones drawn with any nuance, and their repeated appearances in these hasty sketches allow a minimal amount of character development. With undistinguished prose, leaden humor, insistent self-deprecation, almost zero detail about anything other than the state of her immediate surroundings (and precious little of that), and the author succeeds in making herself and her circle appear purely unappealing.
Gives the impression of being scrawled during lunch hour for publication in a free local listings guide.Pub Date: July 9, 2002
ISBN: 0-375-76091-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2002
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
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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