The joys of joyriding in a battery-powered roadster (``EV'' for short), by Perrin (Environmental Studies/Dartmouth; Last Person Rural, 1991, etc.). Perrin decides to go electric after being grilled about his commuting methods by an ardent student-ecologist. He flies to California to take proud possession of an electric commuter-car—a Ford Escort converted through the addition of 18 batteries and a set of solar panels—and, in a moment of heady exuberance, decides to drive his EV the 3000 miles back to Thetford, Vermont. Perrin makes it as far as the Sierra Nevadas before the car's tiny range (sixty miles maximum between recharges) and sluggish pickup foil his plans. Undaunted, he leases a truck to tow his EV home. From then on, this amusing excursion into alternative energy doubles as a low-keyed road adventure. Instead of Thelma and Louise, it's Noel and Solo (``quite suddenly...I realized that this car was not an it but a he, and that his name was Solo''). Car and driver visit a flying-saucer factory, countless truck stops, and a car museum that houses an EV from 1899. Most people Perrin meets seem indifferent to Solo, although a few EV fanatics cross his path, as well as dissenters who worry that EVs simply displace pollution from the oil well to the electric power plant. Once home, Perrin tootles around in his clean, friendly machine; outwits a faculty member who accuses him of stealing Dartmouth's electricity; and looks forward to facing his environmental-studies class with a clean conscience. A needless digression on the evils of pollution; notions for improving an EV's range (gas/electric hybrids, better batteries); and a list of EV dealers, associations, and consultants wrap up the short, smooth ride. Laid-back EV propaganda that makes electric cars seem as much like pets as machines. We sense a film in here somewhere.
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 1992
ISBN: 0-393-03407-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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