Pug stories—really a lot of pug stories, from sublime to ridiculous—by Kaufman (This Damn House, 1996). She’s the classic pet owner who is owned by her two pugs, Clara and Sophie. Kaufman considers herself to be the “Official Pug Lollipop,” an utter sap for canine manipulation. Sophie is truculent, “a fourteen-pound reincarnation of Mussolini”; Clara is uncontrollable, scheming, self-protective, watchful, and suspicious, not to mention (sometimes) fawning and sluttish. Kaufman coaxes as many laughs as she can from Clara’s antics (Sophie is too much the taskmaster for drollery and so plays second fiddle in the pug hierarchy). Some dominant themes: Clara dismisses Kaufman’s slavish attention and steals the limelight during her book tours. Thus, Kaufman consults a therapist (the coyly named Dr. Pangloss) to sort out her feelings of inferiority and indentured servitude. More authorial coyness: her canine ophthalmologist is called Dr. Blinkmeister. And more (there is far too much coyness here): —Clara loves Saks because all the gay shoe salesmen appreciate an adorable pug and there’s a pet boutique on the ground floor with Versace leashes and a four-hundred-dollar iron four-poster bed that she feels she deserves.— Halfway through the book, with the meat now sliced pretty thin on the dog-joke front, Kaufman shifts her attention away from Clara and tells the saga of adopting her son, Nicholas, from a Siberian orphanage in a bureaucratic process so byzantine and angst-ridden that it makes Clara’s misbehavior seem pedestrian. Then it’s back to Clara again and how she eventually comes to accept Nicholas, which is a lucky thing: Readers may ponder who would have been given walking papers if they hadn’t hit it off. Inevitably, the jokes get stale. Do you wonder why Kaufman doesn’t just trade the thankless beasts for a Lab and get on with her life?
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-679-45261-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
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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