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GIRL IN THE MIRROR

Name: GIRL IN THE MIRROR
Author: Natasha Tarpley
ISBN: 0-8070-7202-8

THREE GENEREATIONS OF BLACK WOMEN IN MOTION

by Natasha Tarpley ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 22, 1998

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An absorbing memoir of three generations of African-American women. In a rumination on the lives of women and how those of generations are interwoven, Tarpley looks to the stories of her mother and grandmother to make sense of her own. Tarpley, editor of Testimony: Young African-Americans on Identity and Self-Discovery (1995), writes most powerfully when she assumes her grandmother’s imagined persona as a young wife facing her loneliness when her husband leaves her behind during the Great Migration; ultimately she decides to follow him from Alabama to Chicago before he sends for her. Her mother’s story—also told through her voice as Tarpley imagines it—is equally affecting; she decides to leave Chicago for Boston after the death of her husband of many years. It’s clear that Tarpley feels a deep sense of connection to her mother’s and grandmother’s history and needs to reimagine it. Her own story—memories of childhood and her own quest for love—is adequately told but it doesn—t have the same impact. The stories of her mother and grandmother are narrated with an almost novelistic quality and are so engrossing that when her own contemporary voice is introduced the reader feels jolted out of a reverie. Tarpley’s story—in many ways about coming to terms with becoming a woman—is more self-conscious. She is a young writer, in her 20s, and her history is still unfolding. On coming to terms with her grandmother’s death at the end of the book, she writes, “I learned from my grandmother that struggle and freedom do not come only in grand and romantic pronouncements, but are as natural as breathing, as ordinary as making sure there are fresh-smelling sheets on the bed.— It’s a strong legacy, wisely recognized. A graceful and personal telling of a young woman’s search for connections.

Pub Date: June 22, 1998

ISBN: 0-8070-7202-8

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Beacon Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1998

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HARLEM CHARADE
by Natasha Tarpley

- BOOK REVIEW
TESTIMONY
edited by Natasha Tarpley

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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.