Another useful, levelheaded examination of a complex relationship. Secunda (When You and Your Mother Can't Be Friends, 1990, etc.) looks at father-daughter relationships, identifying them as templates for future attachments. The ``good-enough father,'' for example, offers dependability, involvement, and interest throughout his daughter's life, assuring her self-confidence and self- sufficiency. In contrast, the ``doting father's'' daughter lacks self-reliance, while the ``distant father''—by far the most prevalent—raises one who comes to expect little from any partner. Secunda supports the profiles of these types and others with relevant anecdotes and some significant research before looking more closely at the patterns of adult intimacy these daughters seek out: Competitive daughters, she observes, tend to find nurturing partners, while favored ones rarely establish satisfying connections. Secunda offers a three-part journey of discovery for daughters trying to improve relations with their fathers— remembering, healing, and reconnecting—but she's too savvy to suggest that all families can benefit from direct confrontation, especially those troubled by incest. The point of the process, Secunda maintains, is to get past the lingering fear and/or anger and to learn how to avoid finding men like these less-than-ideal fathers. Solid and evocative from the start, with considerable potential as a popular choice.
Pub Date: June 5, 1992
ISBN: 0-385-30268-1
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1992
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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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