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A CIRCLE ROUND THE SUN

Name: A CIRCLE ROUND THE SUN
Author: Peregrine Hodson
ISBN: 0-679-42102-5

A FOREIGNER IN JAPAN, INC.

by Peregrine Hodson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1993

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Subjective, albeit detached (even alienated), reflections from a gaijin who returned to Japan as much in search of himself as the soul of his host country. A British barrister who had traveled through and written about war-torn Afghanistan, Hodson (Under a Sickle Moon, 1987) was seconded as a securities trader to the Tokyo branch of the London- based bank for which he had worked a couple of years back. While in Japan, the vaguely discontented, thirtysomething author (who had visited Japan as a youth in pursuit of enlightenment) kept a journal, which he draws on here to offer allusive and episodic impressions of his not-altogether-happy stay. Although fluent in Japanese, for example, Hodson experienced great difficulty communicating in a self-absorbed, status-conscious society where urban materialism had all but vanquished traditional values. After constant contact with Japanese colleagues and European friends, in fact, he concluded that money is ``the one-word language everyone understands.'' Notwithstanding cultural and spiritual shocks, Hodson (who seems to have led a notably active night life during his 12-month sojourn) provides vivid examples of the joyless hedonism, sexual license, violence, and other of affluence's less appealing excesses that have undermined the consensual harmony if not moral fiber of an economic superpower. For a variety of reasons (a lost love, office politics, a new flame, existential angst), the author eventually decided to return home, thereby completing his ``circle round the sun.'' Though Hodson largely lets his observations speak for themselves, he occasionally lapses into fortune-cookie wisdom: ``In the yoga of the direct path, one life is enough. But it depends on the trajectory.'' That cavil apart: a different and rewarding appreciation of modern Japan.

Pub Date: April 30, 1993

ISBN: 0-679-42102-5

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.