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IN MY FATHER’S FOOTSTEPS

Succeeds creditably until the “me” in the memoir takes over. (7 illustrations, not seen)

The son of the late poet William Matthews debuts with an uneven memoir of his father’s life, death, and enduring influence.

The author begins promisingly with a powerful segment about visiting the apartment of his father in 1997 right after 55-year-old William’s sudden death from a heart attack. “All I wanted to do was to sit down,” Sebastian writes, “and immerse myself in the slowly dying energy of the room.” The author discusses the poet’s serial sexual escapades and failed marriages, his compulsive desire to sleep with his students (he finally had to leave the University of Washington after women filed complaints), his weaknesses and strengths as a father, his drinking, and his demons. Sebastian also shows us William’s obsessions with jazz and opera and describes clearly his abilities as a writer, teacher, and performer. Because of the poet’s peripatetic life, the younger Matthews had no stable home life in the conventional sense. As he grew up, the author realized he wished to be a writer as well, but was soon wrestling with the same demons that tormented his father. There is an uncomfortable account of teenaged Sebastian having Clinton-esque sexual relations with one of his father’s graduate students, who stayed with him while Dad was away. Unfortunately, as the focus shifts from the poet to the memoirist, interest ebbs as triteness surges in. The expression “one day at a time” makes an unwelcome appearance and brings along many equally drab friends. The author experiences sexual dysfunction, enters therapy, joins a support group, screams “Fuck you!” at his father’s picture, struggles in his relationships with women, marries, and moves to Asheville, North Carolina, where he currently lives, teaches, and writes.

Succeeds creditably until the “me” in the memoir takes over. (7 illustrations, not seen)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-393-05738-0

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2003

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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

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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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