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DEVOTION

Name: DEVOTION
Author: Miriam Levine
ISBN: 0-8203-1555-9

A MEMOIR

by Miriam Levine ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1993

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Way stations along the road to motherhood, writing, and beyond, by Levine, a poet. The memories that the author shares are of people, places, and events that shaped her concept of devotion. As the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, Levine grew up in blue- collar Passaic, New Jersey, surrounded by a close-knit family. From an uncle, Sam—blinded by hereditary syphilis but nonetheless a fan of racetrack betting—she learned that ``though the wounded stay wounded,'' the recognition of one's self ``was a kind of grace, which lived alongside pain''—and that ``the forbidden, the juiciness of Sam's racetrack money'' was also good. From a grandmother, Molly, whose ``passion was to get things right, to clarify and complicate and create,'' Levine ``found out how to work, how to be.'' Family legacies are supplemented here by memories of encounters with a gifted professor who encouraged Levine but was cruel to his own wife; of an affair with a salesman, Mike, that revealed to the author the power of sex—``ruined and potent'' with ``his awful satyr's face, he'd been impossible to resist''; of a near-fatal abortion that, at the time, she thought taught her courage—though now she concludes that ``just having a baby was an act of courage [rendering you]...helpless before the life that would with its own power break out of you and leave you who knew how''; and of a meeting with novelist Jean Rhys, with whom Levine shared a preference for extremes rather than the ``soul- destroying middle.'' Meanwhile, the turbulent adolescence of the author's son and the addiction problems of her husband—both filtered through visits to friends in Italy or vacations in Maine- -remind Levine that ``family life could also be a kind of alchemy- -there always seemed to be something new.'' A minor memoir, despite well-crafted prose.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-8203-1555-9

Page Count: 264

Publisher: Univ. of Georgia

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.