by P.A. Condon ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2007
Wise and entertaining, this book is hard to put down.
A deft, compelling autobiography of an Everyman.
Thorough, organized and well-researched, Circuits & Bumps qualifies more as autobiography than memoir, heavily weighted though it is toward Condon’s early years. Though his childhood was at times Dickensian–spent in part in an orphanage when his father was incarcerated and his mother hospitalized–the author, an admitted romantic, remembers himself more as Huck Finn than Pip. Blessed with an encyclopedic memory, Condon displays a keen eye for those seminal moments that most require years of expensive therapy to pinpoint. His are receiving his library card, seeing his first mountain and suffering a terrifying run-in with a threatening stranger–all have effects that took decades to reveal themselves fully. Though the author entered training for the Royal Air Force during World War II, fighting ended before he got airborne. Failing to earn his wings, Condon found himself adrift in the gloom of postwar London. Lured by the contrast of Canada’s unfettered and pristine expanses, Condon emigrated. There, he transforms into a virtual Sal Paradise and his narrative into a somewhat less manic, but no less idealistic, Anglo-Canadian On the Road. A stint at a mining camp in the Yukon led the young man to turn his attention to education, a decision that led to his matriculating at the age of 27 at the University of British Columbia. By his early 30s, Condon married his one true love, lost her to breast cancer, become a teacher and begun suffering symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The author wields some advantage over a contemporary audience due to the sheer exoticism of growing up in 1930s London. However, his magnetic tale is powered as much by the storytelling and language as by the subject matter. There’s comfort in the grace with which he writes about his struggles. A writer with an enviable talent for consistently skilled word choice, Condon crafts a remarkable story out of what, at objective consideration, is a relatively unremarkable life.
Wise and entertaining, this book is hard to put down.Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4120-9930-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by P.A. Condon
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis
by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno
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