by Susan Bourette ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2008
Without a thesis or strong conclusion, this journey seems frivolous and self-indulgent.
Canadian journalist and conflicted carnivore Bourette tours the meat industry, looking to justify her choice.
Like many people, the author has grappled for years with the moral, environmental and nutritional conflicts associated with her decision to eat meat. But Bourette took her internal battle one step further, taking a job at the Maple Leaf Pork slaughterhouse in Brandon, Manitoba. The descriptions of days slicing out pig cheeks are appropriately horrifying, but the experience didn’t turn her into a Morgan Spurlock or Eric Schlosser. Rather, after a requisite post-slaughterhouse vegetarian stint, Bourette set out to find more natural, moral ways to enjoy meat. She saddled up with a multigenerational family of Texas ranchers and was shocked to find that, among other things, the steaks there were tough and the ranchers jaded, with little hope for their future. She went truly rustic on a whale hunt with the Alaskan Inuits and a moose hunt in her native Canada, contemplating the history of the human hunter, the thrill of stalking and killing in order to eat and the unrivaled taste of truly wild nutrition. She experienced firsthand the greenmarket revolution sweeping the New York food world, visiting the organic Blue Hill farm north of the city that supplies many major New York restaurants, and she apprenticed for a week in an expensive Greenwich Village butcher shop. At the end, Bourette tried to neatly tie up all her experiences with kitchen string by serving a rib roast to friends. But ultimately all she offers readers are a few interesting slices of life.
Without a thesis or strong conclusion, this journey seems frivolous and self-indulgent.Pub Date: May 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-15486-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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