Terrific debut by a 22-year-old who writes with limpid simplicity, grace and at times tingling fire, about Ms two-year teaching fellowship in China's Human province. A Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Yale, Salzman was an English teacher at Hunan Medical College in Changsha from 1982 to 1984. His descriptions of the tremendous pressures on Chinese family life under communism can be hair-raising: it's not just the outdoor plumbing and smell of feces everywhere, or the horrors of transportation, or the vast absence of most consumer goods we take for granted. The point is made when Salzman visits a home and tries to teach a young boy how to use Mark's present of watercolors, brushes and charcoals. The father, mother and grandmother sit right down and hover over every line the nervous child makes, and one feels all of China scolding the kid and getting on his back. However, visiting another family, Salzman plays a Bach sonata on his cello, and the whole family creates an accompanying uproar throughout his playing to show their enjoyment. Especially delightful are Salzman's challenges in overcoming the stifling rote methods of his Chinese students learning English—students who fear criticism at every level of life. Exhilarating.
Pub Date: Jan. 26, 1986
ISBN: 1412812690
Page Count: 197
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 10, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1986
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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