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OPERATION BLUE LIGHT

Name: OPERATION BLUE LIGHT
Author: Philip Chabot
ISBN: 978-0-9816024-0-0

: MY SECRET LIFE AMONG PSYCHIC SPIES

by Philip Chabot ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 2008

Uneven in tone, implausible in execution.

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Unfocused portrait of a young man stumbling through first jobs, young loves, voices in his head, mental institutions, a supposed engagement to Chairman Mao’s granddaughter and a cadre of Cold War psychics.

Attempting to synthesize a series of confusing events from his youth–what he considers his psychic awakening as an adolescent–Chabot employs a jarring array of coming-of-age episodes, conspiracy theories and radical leaps of logic. These exertions only muddy his central thesis–that the author’s inexplicable extrasensory perception was monitored, and possibly engendered, by a secret U.S. government program designed to combat psychic espionage by Communist China and the Soviet Union. The first two-thirds of the book, concerning Chabot’s young adulthood, feels cobbled together with tangential episodes amid periodic nods toward his burgeoning ESP, which resembles amateur ham radio conversations without the hardware. Superfluous details and inconsistent tone–the author jumps clumsily between the quotidian (his propensity for Coca-Cola) and the fantastic (a satisfyingly tense encounter with a Man in Black)–further obscure the novel’s storyline and theme. Significant events occur without plausible cause; neither his engagement to Chairman Mao’s granddaughter nor his psychic ability, both fundamental to the plot, feel convincingly developed. Coherence drifts away as readers fall deeper into the rabbit hole, and the narrative culminates in a confusing psychic contact/long-distance phone call to China via a group of possible Soviet psychic agents. By this point, readers are lost. It’s just too hard to believe Chabot contacted a secret group of Eastern Bloc psychics to renege on an already legally suspect international marriage contract mediated by his college roommate. Besides, the author gives readers little evidence to suspect he’s in danger, since these titular psychic spies act like confused interns rather than experienced Cold War agents. Chabot likewise paints a confusing personal portrait. Is he an innocent kid from Indiana tampering with strange psychic powers? Is he a scrappy pawn in a secret government program? His arrogance toward other psychics, and the FBI and CIA agents who eventually interview him, stand in marked contrast to his deference to his father and other authority figures. This smacks of posturing and it, too, is difficult to swallow. Whether or not readers accept Chabot’s intrinsic sincerity, few will accept his narrative.

Uneven in tone, implausible in execution.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2008

ISBN: 978-0-9816024-0-0

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

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.