Angels may not die, but they will surely wish for suspended animation until the last copy of this book is shredded. Ronald Reagan's daughter has already wasted her parents in earlier books (The Way I See It, not reviewed, etc.). Now she has come 180 degrees, and having found God, she gives the credit to her father. Or maybe she has confused her father with God—it's not altogether clear. Blessedly, Davis's report of her epiphany is short—and shallow. In this volume, the Great Communicator is so often portrayed as lifting his blue eyes to the heavens that he seems to be reading the Great TelePrompTer in the Sky. Davis's turnaround began when her father was shot by John Hinckley. She visited him in the hospital, she says, and heard him say that his healing was dependent on forgiving the gunman. ``I remember telling him,'' she says, ``you're the best Christian around.'' Gradually, she began to reinterpret stories and incidents from her childhood. For instance, a remark made by her father after her grandfather's funeral—``Why are you crying''—comes to be seen as peaceful acceptance of death rather than insensitivity. Stories of horseback rides with her father in the California hills, troubled dreams, fables of angels, and advice on ``talking to God'' emerge as antidotes to the author's earlier tales of misunderstanding and neglect. According to Davis, the ailing President Reagan is grateful when his troubled children come home for family holidays, but the stiffly worded forewords that he and Nancy have prepared for this book suggest that old wounds are still tender. Neither mentions their daughter, the author. Looking for enlightenment about presidential fathers as spiritual guides? Wait until Chelsea gets a little older. ($120,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017324-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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