A brief but practical and thorough introduction to Taiwan.
Brooklyn-based writer and counselor Altman visited Taiwan for the first time in 1995 and was immediately enchanted by what he called a “place of extraordinary natural beauty.” He would return many times and developed a deep appreciation for Taiwan’s complex past and rich culture as well as the threatened democracy’s global importance. The author aims to deliver an “educational and entertaining” primer, and he largely succeeds, beginning with a brief but impressively synoptic history that includes the original settlement of the territory by people of Austronesian heritage tens of thousands of years ago. The book is as practical as it is whimsical; one learns practical tips, such as how to navigate the Taiwanese metro and shop for bubble tea, but also about the national dog and the ubiquity of musical garbage trucks. Altman also discusses Taiwan’s fraught political history with great clarity, particularly in relation to China, and concludes his book with an impassioned case for its independence: “As a democratic society, the Taiwanese people should be able to decide their own future in any way that they see fit.” For those with limited knowledge of Taiwan and especially for those planning to visit, this introduction is helpful and easy to digest. Altman’s style is lucidly informal, and he manages not only to prepare the first-time visitor for day-to-day aspects of a trip—for instance, there’s a lengthy discussion of the prevalence of Wi-Fi connections—but he also limns a vivid portrait of Taiwan’s national identity. The author clearly writes out of great personal affection for the area and its inhabitants, and, as such, his accounts can feel a touch rosy; one gets the impression it’s a place that’s rich in virtue and virtually free of vice. This minor quibble aside, it’s an easy, enjoyable and informative read.
A clear and comprehensive guide to a complex locale.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2021
ISBN: 979-8755698757
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Gaupo Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: HISTORY | NATURE | GENERAL NONFICTION
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The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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PERSPECTIVES
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Categories: BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY
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