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Bob: As LIfe Goes On

LESSONS ONE DOESN'T WANT TO LEARN

In failing health, a mildly schizophrenic mail room clerk retires at the urging of his boss, entrusts his care to his older sister, suffers an endless assortment of physical maladies, then three years later dies. Here, his sister remembers.
Contino (Born to Create, 2007) starts her memoir promisingly enough. She writes in the first few pages of the pain she felt when she was invited to the wedding of a close friend’s daughter, but her troubled brother, Bob, was not. Shortly afterward, Bob’s closest friends abandoned him when, at 23, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. As Bob’s sister and caregiver, Contino saw a side of the disease few people understand. Readers might rightfully expect her to pull back the curtain, yet she leaves them in the dark. After offering a few sketchy details of her brother’s diagnosis, she seems to forget that he had schizophrenia. She writes of his unwillingness to pay more than $20 for anything and his refusal to follow doctors’ orders. At times, she shows him to be embarrassingly crude, but as he ages, little in her portrayal suggests he was different from every other grumpy old man—which might be her point. Muddy sentences might irk readers further: “Maybe that was the time I was taking my brother back and forth to the doctor because the medication wasn’t working.” Contino’s greatest strength in an otherwise unsatisfying read is her re-creation of dialogue. Through conversation, Contino conveys the frustration she felt repeatedly imploring Bob to accept medical help as well as the helplessness he felt being put through countless treatments and tests: “ ‘Have mercy on me. Please, have mercy” he screamed over and over until the drug took its effect.”

Startlingly close seat to a man’s ill-starred life, but vague details and poor grammar obstruct the view.

Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2014

ISBN: 978-1434928405

Page Count: 112

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2014

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NUTCRACKER

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

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

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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