Not quite as funny as it should be, but the behind-the-scenes peek at the flight attendant’s life makes it mostly worthwhile.
Humorous (and not so humorous) sketches about the life of a flight attendant, a follow-up to the author’s musical revue of the same title.
Exposés by members of the service professions, from doctors and waiters to cab drivers and cops, are a publishing mainstay. Sixteen-year veteran flight attendant Foss knows the genre’s requirements: (1) insider accounts of training, working, and scandal within the profession; (2) funny stories about encounters with the public. The author is at her best, however, when not trying so hard to be amusing. It’s a jolt to learn that flight-attendant training shares much of the discipline and brutality of boot camp. Despite impressive perks (free air-travel anytime), the work itself is grueling; meanwhile, though, readers will enjoy the author’s nuts-and-bolts description of her duties. Meal service up narrow aisles is a complex, by-the-numbers team effort quickly thrown into chaos when too many passengers decide to go to the bathroom. And a delightful chapter describes the attendant’s interminable chore of collecting trash. Inevitably, the jokes and attempts at humor miss as often as they hit, though there are plenty of zingers (“How does a flight attendant say ‘Fuck you’ to a passenger? ‘I’ll be right back’ ”), and the rules for passengers are worth memorizing (“Never poke a flight attendant”). Anecdotes about passengers from hell are a staple, and many are amusing. Unwanted, though, are the lyrics and sketches from Foss’s revue; they were probably entertaining when performed but shouldn’t have been included here. It was also misguided to add a final chapter describing her in-the-air experiences on September 11, no matter how de rigueur it seems for writers these days.
Not quite as funny as it should be, but the behind-the-scenes peek at the flight attendant’s life makes it mostly worthwhile.Pub Date: March 6, 2002
ISBN: 0-7868-9011-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2002
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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