An illuminating and devastating examination of an icon and her dramatic experiences.
A popular biographer’s intimate portrait of Audrey Hepburn’s wartime experiences.
Before the world knew Audrey as an actress and UNICEF humanitarian, she was born Adriaantje, in 1929. With this scrupulous account of Hepburn’s upbringing in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands—elements that previous biographies have only glanced at—Matzen completes his trilogy on Hollywood stars during World War II, following books on Jimmy Stewart and Carole Lombard. The author delves into the attraction of fascism for Hepburn’s mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra, and father, Joseph Ruston. He opens the book with a chilling passage about Ella’s meeting with Hitler in 1935. “He was so pale, so composed as he smiled that enigmatic smile, full of humility, the one seen so often in newsreels flickering on screens around the world,” writes Matzen. “He reached out his hand and accepted hers lightly.” After Joseph left the family, Hepburn’s life was irreversibly altered, as it would be again when the Germans invaded their town. The author interweaves detailed military and social history with Ella's lineage, quotes from Hepburn, fragments from the diaries of her contemporaries, and interviews with people who knew her. Hepburn seldom spoke of Ella’s early Nazi support or her own war efforts, but Matzen resurrects this history, thoroughly contextualizing Ella’s dominant personality. In addition to documenting the family’s many traumas, the author explores Hepburn’s love for ballet, and accounts of early film auditions add light to the bleakness. When thoughts and impressions are ascribed to Hepburn—e.g., her reaction to Anne Frank’s diary (“ ‘There were floods of tears,” Audrey said of that first encounter with the writing of Anne Frank. ‘I became hysterical.’ ”) and her 1992 trip to Somalia—the journalistic text is often moving but sometimes slows the narrative flow. Nonetheless, Matzen's labor of love amply shows how war shaped Hepburn’s worldview. Useful chapter notes blend bibliographic sources with the author’s reasoning for engaging with specific topics.
An illuminating and devastating examination of an icon and her dramatic experiences.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73227-358-0
Page Count: 404
Publisher: GoodKnight Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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