Compelling and stylish magazine journalism, rich in novelistic detail. A reminder of what can make sifting through all of...
Sager plays Virgil in the modern American Inferno.
William Carlos Williams wrote “the pure products of America go crazy;” journalist Sager (Esquire, Rolling Stone, GQ) collects an astonishing range of profiles that support the poet’s assertion. Quite literally, in some cases: The opening piece on comedienne Roseanne focuses on her oft-proclaimed personality disorder, to alternately amusing and chilling effect. Sager also vividly limns the inner lives (in a manner strongly reminiscent of Tom Wolfe’s landmark works of “The New Journalism”) of neighbors trapped in a horrific California wildfire; professional beautiful woman Brooke Burke; a man trapped for days in a wrecked van, plumbing the depths of the survival instinct; young and nihilistic Newark teens and pre-teens who have made a sport of stealing cars to wreck them at high speeds (the “Donut Boys” of the title); an aristocratic Renaissance man who finds his skills best suited to butlering; and a host of other American men named Sager, tracked down on a cross-country drive. A few of the articles, such as the heartbreakingly empathic portrait of an accomplished and vital 92-year-old man living out his last days in a bland retirement community, make indelible impressions. The lighter fare, including mordant looks at the world of professional volleyball players and sagging swingers adrift in Florida, is funny and engaging. A profile of erstwhile rapper and current family-film star Ice Cube bristles with the excitement of the then-burgeoning hip-hop community, and is a surprising reminder of what a fierce and focused talent Cube once was—though Sager’s earnest explanations of the basic tenets of rap culture are, at this late date, unintentionally funny.
Compelling and stylish magazine journalism, rich in novelistic detail. A reminder of what can make sifting through all of those glossy advertisements and subscription cards worthwhile.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-56858-350-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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