A fascinating and well-told tale of adventure.
EXPEDITIONS: GOLD, SHAMANS, AND GREEN FIRE
Elders, Lee
A mortgage banker from Arizona gives it all up to search for treasure in the jungles of Ecuador. In the late 1960s, when the buttoned-down banking world ceased to capture his imagination, Lee Elders set out looking for adventure. He ended up leading a prospecting expedition into the jungles of Ecuador. Although that expedition ended with his return to the States without the riches he’d hoped, Elders’ career as a modern day explorer was only just beginning. Back in Arizona, he received a letter from Adriano Vintimilla, his partner and friend who had served as translator on the prospecting trip, which suggested Elders return to pursue a new opportunity. Upon Elders' arrival, Vintimilla described his new insight into a longstanding mystery: the last will and testament of Raphael Bollanos Mejia, a Colombian who worked for a quinine harvesting company, used veiled hints and clues to describe the location of a fabulous trove of emeralds, hidden deep in the jungle. These hints had beguiled treasure hunters for decades, but after comparing Mejia’s clues to an old Army map, Vintimilla thought he had a general idea as to where the emeralds might be. Elders and his friend began a long, dangerous search for his treasure, and, more importantly to Elders, adventure. Elders story is a fascinating one, and he tells it well. His prose is immersive, and he peppers the narrative with details of everyday life in Ecuador, including the lives of the native people who still live in the jungle. Raised on an Apache reservation, Elders treats these people with immense reverence and admiration for their lifestyle and beliefs. He is especially respectful of the spiritual world inhabited by the Shuara, who served as his guides as he moved closer and closer to his goal. Throughout, Elders is careful to highlight the differences between his quest for adventure, and others greedy search only for riches, which often leads them to exploit the land and its people.
A fascinating and well-told tale of adventure.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0988950405
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wakani North LLC
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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