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EMPIRE BLUES

First-novelist Branch (a Washington columnist/editor) is hip as can be, loaded with talent (chiefly satiric), and bursting with ideas for a half-dozen novels. Unfortunately, he has heaved all those ideas into one boggy, epically uneven book, linking up two very different worlds through a rather bland and passive main character—David Howell, a youngish writer for Washington magazine. By far the more distinctive of those two worlds is the near-plotless sexual, political, and hugely verbal comedy of Howell's D.C. circle: an eccentric sampling of 35-ish reporters, activists, feminists, and government types—poker pals, chums, and lovers who complete circuits "in the great Washington penis-vagina network." Principal figures in this whip-smart group: just-divorced, disillusioned Senate aide Henry Woodruff, who chaotically moves into Howell's apartment— where he announces flaky theories of sex and politics, maniacally constructs obscene, symbolic Rube Goldberg contraptions, and broods over his ex-wife while pursuing unlikely women; Haven Pinder, Howell's loving neighbor, who's into bologna-and-potato-chip sandwiches and masterminds the rescue of another neighbor (ancient Miss Lily Snow) from a nursing home; rival reporters from the Times and the D.C. Post; and the violently incompatible but oddly complementary editors of Howell's magazine. Branch has a firm, satiric fix on these aging Sixties-bred juveniles, on their dialogue, mannerisms, mating habits, jealousies; and, despite the casual sex and terminal coolness, his ironic, exaggerated, yet whimsically compassionate view of a mini-society is reminiscent, believe it or not, of the late Barbara Pym. Too bad, then, that these characters are so spottily developed and so disjointedly presented—with uncoordinated clumps of plot or talk, with lapses into cuteness or sentimentality or routine, crude farce (Woodruff's near self-castration with his pants zipper). And a far more serious problem is the fact that Branch devotes about half the book to a whole other, much more clichéd world: the CIA, the FBI, anti-Castro Cubans, drug dealers, and narcs in Miami—a slapstick-violent tangle which Howell is investigating for his magazine. True, the Miami plot—which centers on a clever, totally cynical Cuban spy/cocaine-king who uses politics and murder to manipulate all—finally leads to the murder of Howell's pal Woodruff (whose latest cause is recognition of Castro's regime). But this, like Branch's other efforts to link his two stories, is annoyingly contrived, devoid of reality on any level. And the novel's overall theme—idealism vs. cynicism—remains too fuzzy to bring the chaos of digressions together. So: only readers with a special interest in the Washington-journalism scene are likely to wade through this overlong mess for the sake of its shrewd, fanciful insights. But Branch is spirited, imaginative, and brightly wicked with words—and we can only hope that he hasn't thrown all his best material into this under-edited, over-ambitious, fatally unfocused debut.

Pub Date: April 13, 1981

ISBN: 0671230964

Page Count: 408

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1981

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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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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

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

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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