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DENNIS AND GREER

Name: DENNIS AND GREER
Author: Molly Gould
ISBN: 978-0-692-91991-0

A LOVE STORY

by Molly Gould ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2017

An often beautiful, if repetitive, chronicle of youthful romance.

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A debut collection of poetically charged love letters, exchanged by the editor’s mother and her first husband in the mid-1960s.

After Greer Dewitt died of cancer in 2015 at the age of 71, her daughter, Gould, the editor of this volume, inherited a box of letters and journals. In it, there was correspondence, dated between 1965 and 1968, between Dewitt and Dennis King, a man whom she met in Sunday school when he was 19 and she was 21. Gould had already known about King—her mother had spoken of him after her divorce in 1987 from Gould’s father—but she wasn’t aware of the full story of their rhapsodic romance. The letters trace the evolution of their relationship; in the very beginning, Dewitt was infatuated with him, but King kept his distance and withheld full commitment. They weathered long periods of separation, while maintaining an apparently tempestuous one union. Still, Dewitt was crushed when King unilaterally decided to enlist in the Marines, as it would be likely that he would be sent to Vietnam. The two married in 1966, and shortly afterward, Dewitt became pregnant but miscarried. In 1967, King was indeed sent off to war, where he was killed by a sniper the following year, and in an epilogue, Gould describes how Dewitt managed to climb out of her despair and eventually marry the editor’s father in 1977. The letters cover a full emotional range of Dewitt and King’s consuming relationship, depicting distrust and loneliness as well as euphoria. King, in particular, writes in soaring language, eschewing emotional restraint: “How is your agony?” he writes in one 1966 letter. “Does the protracted pain instill upon your heart the chrysalis of frustration that it does on mine?” (In another, he refers to her as “Blossom of all my Aprils.”) Also, the epistles provide a window into how callow youth can quickly mature thanks to life’s obligations. For readers who have no personal connection to Dewitt or King, the collection will likely seem a bit long, however, especially as many letters repeat similar sentiments.

An often beautiful, if repetitive, chronicle of youthful romance.

Pub Date: July 27, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-692-91991-0

Page Count: 324

Publisher: Belle Reve Press

Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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.