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ALL MY SINS ARE RELATIVES

Name: ALL MY SINS ARE RELATIVES
Author: W.S. Penn
ISBN: 0-8032-3709-X

by W.S. Penn ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 30, 1995

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A frighteningly perceptive look at the essential dilemmas of mixbloods, academics, and writers from an insider on all counts. Novelist Penn (English/Michigan State Univ.; The Absence of Angels, 1994) is always cynical, occasionally bitter, and unfailingly accurate in his arrows' markseven if his targets seem difficult to miss. These include family, mostly his wealthy maternal WASP relatives, who can hardly bring themselves to acknowledge his existence; colleagues, such as the one who said that ``being black was serious but being Indian was `more like a hobby' ''; institutions that deny tenure for ``lack of publications,'' no matter how much he publishes; and assistant literary agents who write cruel letters on behalf of bosses who can't make his writing ``salable.'' Nor is he afraid to turn that razor-sharp perception on himself. After a lengthy disquisition on authenticity and fakery in Native American writing, for example, he explodes all his carefully drawn theories with a simple, unanswerable question he hears in his grandfather's voice: ``What makes you so all-fired sure?'' That is his Nez Perce grandfather, from whom he learned everything about being Indian while his father was grinning stupidly for his white employers and colleagues; his facial muscles simply gave out three years before he was to receive his retirement benefits. And it is in descriptions like thatof his familythat Penn is truly ingenious. He masterfully melds the history and traditions of the Nez Perce with that of his family, not only when they coincide in obvious waysas in the story of Penn's ancestor Chief Josephbut also in explaining his father's inability to stay at his job until retirement, his sister's dreamy obliviousness to pain, his own digressive writing style, and the perennial cynicism that has allowed him to survive in a hostile world. Insightful and elegantly written. (11 photos, not seen)

Pub Date: Aug. 30, 1995

ISBN: 0-8032-3709-X

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
FEATHERING CUSTER
by W.S. Penn

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ABSENCE OF ANGELS
by W.S. Penn

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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.