The popular Dixie wisecracker is back this year—not with his usual mixed bag of grumpy newspaper columns but, along with fervent thanks for continued life, a complete account of his latest and scariest illness. Grizzard (b. 1946) lay hospitalized for 27 days in a coma, near death, after major rearranging of his vital giblets. Out of his coma with no apparent brain damage, he reports on how he got into such a parlous state; how he barely survived; and how much his pals and fans love him. This a personal story with a vengeance. We've heard about Grizzard's faulty ticker before, of course, but not since Prof. Irving S. Cobb perfected the genre several generations ago have there been such sustained carryings-on about tubes and catheters, blood and guts. Advancing the art, Grizzard fearlessly discusses his testicles (his privates peek out from those hospital gowns), his dreams, his golf-club memberships, and his hemorrhoids. He mentions ``limbaughsectomies (putting good sense into the head of a liberal)''; provides a joke about spinsters; and offers a song about absent friends. For his devoted fans, it's pure Gizzard—inside and out, heart and soul—slick and sometimes funny. It's easy reading, as usual, and it flows like healthy body fluids. Reminiscent of Cobb's account of a drawing of a party ``whose stomach was sliced four ways, like a twenty-cent pie, and then folded back neatly, thus exposing his entire interior arrangement to the gaze of the casual observer.'' No illustrations, praise the Lord. (First printing of 150,000)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-679-43125-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
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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