A deftly composed collection that evokes, even in its specificity, the feeling of a place that may have only existed in...
A series of essays explores Oregon, the author’s home state.
Parker (Running After Prefontaine, 2014) is a child of the Pacific Northwest, his family a set of devoted Portlanders. But spurred by his marriage, he moved to Minnesota, giving his homeland “season by season…an increasingly and unmistakably Edenic quality: an idea of a place we’ll never return to.” The author decides to spend the summer in Oregon, investigating not only his home state, but also his own desire to go back there and whether that is truly possible. While the essays often focus on the natural beauty of the place, there is always juxtaposed Parker’s consideration of how memory colors his perceptions and how his metanarrative desire for home alters his moods and thoughts. The opener, “Going Home,” introduces and focuses on the author’s uneasiness: His frequent trips to Oregon reveal “a steady accretion of incremental changes” that has “resulted in a complete discontinuity.” “Futures” relates Parker’s family history in the area along with his own past and he and his wife’s uncertainty as they try to make their own story. “On the Gentle Sand Facing In” wistfully recalls the author’s childhood beach house and its transformation over time. In another captivating essay, he hikes the Pacific Crest Trail, presenting himself as a somewhat hapless camper in search of certainty, of an analogous trail through a life. And “Field Notes from the Diffuse Heart of Oregon” obliquely sketches the natural wonders of the state: its rivers, waterfalls, deserts, and forests. “Nostalgias” historicizes and resituates the longing for home and the past, nicely dovetailing the personal aspects and the universality of that feeling. Parker writes with consuming intelligence, but beauty takes precedence in his imagery and prose. The lack of conclusion to many of these bewitching essays follows the theme of restlessness perfectly; the author is committed to thinking through an idea rather than pinning it down to one thing, much to his benefit. The sketches and paintings by debut illustrator Hirsch throughout accompany the text effectively.
A deftly composed collection that evokes, even in its specificity, the feeling of a place that may have only existed in memory.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9827838-3-2
Page Count: 186
Publisher: Kelson Books
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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