Befitting a creature with a heart weighing six tons, freelance writer and biologist Payne brings a lot of love, an encyclopedic knowledge, and an expansive imagination to this exquisitely written study of whales. Smitten by whales since 1967, the author here offers the fruits of his 27-year fascination with the biggest, perhaps most gentle animal ever to live on earth. Although advances in cetacean biology have been great over the past three decades, much of the whale's world remains obscure and rarified. Payne's particular talent is to be at home with both realms: he can sling equations with the best—in fact, he probably is the best—and he can creatively marvel at the unknowns, never too proud to say he hasn't got the answer, never unwilling to venture an explanation or two. A good portion of the book is spent by the waters of Argentina's Peninsula Valdes, an isolated whale hangout on the southern Atlantic, where Payne watches whales with his family, whose story is as beautifully handled as the delineation of the Patagonian landscape. Twined to this narrative are long essays on whale songs, diet, migration, bubble clouds, the impact of pollution, exploding harpoons, factory ships, ecotourism, whaling, and the poverty of imagination behind big-game hunting. Some of the most powerful writing chronicles a time when the author got deeply, sweetly involved with the rarest of large whales, the right. Payne has delivered more than the most dedicated whale enthusiast could ask for: a book of great beauty, integrity, and understanding, pure pleasure even if you can't tell a sperm from a killer.
Pub Date: May 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-02-595245-5
Page Count: 398
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994
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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