An eye-opening look at the controversial and highly publicized death that led to major revisions in the punishing schedules that doctors-in-training once faced. Eighteen-year-old Libby Zion died on March 4, 1994, just hours after being brought to the emergency room of New York Hospital with a mystifying range of symptoms; the exact cause of her death has never been determined. Her father, combative journalist Sidney Zion, embarked on a 10-year campaignif not a vendettato bring New York Hospital and its doctors to justice. What happened in those few hours Libby spent in one of the country's leading medical centers? Robins (Alien Ink, 1992, etc.) does a masterful job of sorting through the complex maze of conflicting memories and opinions about Libby's strange symptoms, what they meant, and whether she received appropriate care. The author's thorough reporting reveals more than enough blame to go around and gives context to the unusual jury decision that apportioned responsibility equally between Libby and the defendants for her death. But the real culprit for Robins is what she calls medicine's dark secret, the ``closed order book'' system that gives relatively inexperienced, overworked residents and interns the primary responsibility for hospitalized patients, with little or no supervision. Robins's revelations here are important, indeed shocking; but she is most affecting in limning her portrait of gentle, bright, creative Libby. The underlying tragedy of Libby's death is the distance separating parents and children, and the self-delusion of Sidney Zion, who thought he knew his daughter (``She was my confidante . . . my buddy'') but failed to see that this teenager was drowning in a slough of despair, medicating herself with a medley of drugs that probably contributed to her death. Robins elucidates a human as well as a medical disaster in a page-turning read about life, death, justice, and responsibility. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-385-30809-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1995
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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