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FLY WITH A MURDER OF CROWS

A roughly told account of a rough life but one worth reading.

A raw debut memoir by a former drug dealer and addict who tells of enduring abuse in early childhood.

Feldman writes early on that his mostly absent father was involved in a number of New York City textile businesses that were possibly connected to the mob and that his schizophrenic mother was an alcoholic who later became a crack-cocaine addict. The author soon recounts that when he was very young, his father left him overnight with wealthy pedophiles, possibly to resolve a financial problem. Although his father provided steady housing for his family in Manhattan, Feldman says, his financial support became spotty after the author’s parents divorced. The author was 11 at the time, and by then, he’d found a new father figure—his mother’s lover and drug dealer. Clarence, he says, was a heroin addict with a reputation for surviving gun battles; however, he had a tender heart for those he considered family, including those, like Feldman, who weren’t blood relatives. He drew the young man into the warmth of his own extended African-American family; gave him tips on how to survive in the South Bronx, where he now lived; and, later, reluctantly provided Feldman with the necessary connections to become a drug dealer. Despite attending college, the author found it hard to break away from his version of the family business. Parts of this memoir are vague, likely because Feldman wrote it in two weeks (according to an afterword by its editor, Mark Greenberg) and also because it sometime relates incomplete memories. Although the author’s story is moving, his prose can be frustratingly ragged; the descriptions of many family members, friends, girlfriends, teachers, and drug-dealing associates lack detail and dimension. However, there are some passages that will grab reader’s attention with West Side Story–like images, such as a recollection of how the author and his teenage friends traversed “whole city blocks just by using the fire escapes and rooftops.”

A roughly told account of a rough life but one worth reading.

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-57869-008-4

Page Count: 238

Publisher: Rootstock Publishing

Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2020

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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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