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HAPPY DAYS

Name: HAPPY DAYS
Author: Shana Alexander
ISBN: 0-385-41815-9

MY MOTHER, MY FATHER, MY SISTER AND ME

by Shana Alexander ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1995

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Alexander, who has anatomized the lives of Patty Hearst, Jean Harris, and others (Anyone's Daughter, 1979, etc.) now wields her scalpel gently but with precision as she dissects her own family history; what is laid bare is tantalizingly mysterious, profoundly sad, and always riveting. Her childhood should have been charmed: Her father, Milton Ager, was a composer of hit tunes, including ``Happy Days Are Here Again''; her mother, Cecelia Ager, was a notedly astute and acerbic film critic. Famous folks waltzed in and out of their lives: George Gershwin, Oscar Levant, ``Dottie'' Parker. But chubby little Shana and her sister, Laurel, were not happy girls. They were suddenly uprooted from their one-of-a-kind apartment (painted for them by stage designer James Reynolds) and moved into a residential hotel with separate bedrooms for each parent (the senior Agers' living pattern for the rest of their very separate lives). Worse yet was the coldness of Cecelia and the harsh regime she imposed on her children. Why did they move? Why, despite their apparent mismatch, did the Agers never divorce? Was George Gershwin ever Cecelia's lover? As the grown-up Shana tries to reconstruct events and resolve these puzzles, a deliciously variegated narrative emerges: a history of Tin Pan Alley; a Jewish immigrant story; tales of tragic love and the complex bonds that tie mothers and daughters. Thanks to Alexander's humanity and insight, these elements all transcend the clichÇs that describe them. And she has a roster of wonderful characters, from her wild, fiery great-aunt, writer Anzia Yezierska, to her second husband, a ne'er-do-well whose reach was pathetically beyond his grasp. The author herself, as she matures, grows obsessed with her wish to be the ideal mother, even as her career burgeons and she fails to conceive a baby. Alexander says she wanted to write Patty Hearst's story because she found it quintessentially American. So is her own story, and she tells it here with great style.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-385-41815-9

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

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

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.