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VENUS IN SPURS

Name: VENUS IN SPURS
Author: Sheila Gillooly
ISBN: 0-8050-3552-4

THE SECRET FEMALE FEAR OF COMMITMENT, OR WHY YOU HEAD FOR THE HILLS WHEN LOVE COMES TO TOWN

by Sheila Gillooly ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1996

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A wisecracking and pretty damned smart self-help book for grown-up girls with boy trouble. Gillooly, a magazine writer who has perfected the literary persona and voice of the hip, funny girlfriend, shows herself here also to be an astute if unpedigreed (we presume) psychologist. Through the use of modern-day archetypes—emergency room physician Paula, who picks all the wrong men; ``sophisticated and urbane'' Annie, who picks all the wrong gay men; overweight Lila; two-timing Lydia; once-burned control freaks Eva and Susannah—Gillooly skillfully shows how postfeminist women just can't quite get it together in their love lives . . . and deep down, may not want to. Actually, deeper down, they do want to; it's just that various self-sabotaging behaviors and beliefs stand in the way of the Know Thyself imperative that would make real relationships possible—or such is the author's likeable thesis. Unfortunately, Venus in Spurs gives the impression of a complex and human-size foot jammed into a streamlined glass slipper meant to confer bestseller status on its wearer: Casting the entire book as an exploration of ``the secret female fear of commitment'' has more to do with the marketplace than with Gillooly's truly wise and helpful offering. (Another problem is that unless you are white, under 35, well educated, and at least a paraprofessional, you may not feel this book is pitched at you.) Who could object, however, to lines like: ``Those of us more broad of beam have to suspend our disbelief a mite to sympathize with the hardship of growing up wafer thin and willowy''? A little awkward in its quick changes between humor and psychology, this book encourages women to ``be themselves'' in a way that actually makes sense of the phrase. (Author tour)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-8050-3552-4

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 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.