A pleasure and an education.
Charming debut chronicling a life-changing relationship with a flock of birds, which inspired both a documentary film (same title) and a romance with the filmmaker.
Thirty years ago, Bittner moved to San Francisco as a dharma bum, Beat seeker, odd-jobber, and musician. Before long, he was homeless and penniless, but for 14 years he stayed true to his hungry but rather aimless spiritual journey, refusing to submit to working at a deadening job, anxious but ready to stay only a step ahead of the gutter. Eventually, he took a position as a housekeeper to an elderly lady in return for a rent-free apartment next door to her home on Telegraph Hill. There he met the parrots, a wild colorful flock with humorous eyes, “as if they concealed the punch line of some joke.” In short order, they twined. Bittner was respectful of the birds’ wildness even while he sought a close communion with them. He tendered food as well as his company, and ultimately the parrots gave him their trust, or at least what passes as such. The author recounts in unpresumptuous and garrulous fashion the days they spent together, one man hoping to touch the thrum of the universe and a flock of blue-crowned and cherry-headed conures willing to provide a glimpse into an altogether different plane of existence. The special appeal here lies in Bittner’s ability to rouse in the reader the giddiness of his time with the parrots: the grace of having a few of the birds live inside his apartment, the pleasure of learning their calls and pecking order, the strange moments of eye contact, the canny instances of cross-species communication, his care of the individual birds when they fell ill. “At times,” he writes, “all of us sense a poetry in the universe—strange coincidences that speak to us in a strong way.” Via parrots? Why not, when Bittner's relationship with the parrots is profound enough to spark envy.
A pleasure and an education.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-609-61055-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2003
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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