Well-known novelist and short-story writer Adams (also this year's Best American Short Stories editor—see above) reflects on a lifetime of vacationing in Mexico. What is it about Mexico, Adams wonders early on, that so intrigues North Americans? For some, the phrase "south of the border" connotes "a cheery, cozy, somewhat infantile, villagey place"; for others—Malcolm Lowry for one—it "is mad, surreal, and dangerous." The question is an interesting one but, alas, Adams—a master of subtlety—never really addresses it directly. Instead she attempts to reveal the country's paradoxical nature through adroitly delineated scenes of her own daily, and often mundane, encounters there: having a drink at an upscale hotel, visiting an out-of-the-way beach, putting up with an annoying accordionist during dinner. Adams is not as interested in description or narrative as she is in character and innuendo, and the book is filled with one short stylish scene after another. In Zihuatanejo, Adams and "R." rendezvous annually with a rather mysterious older couple; in Campeche, she develops (apologetically) an antipathy for her maid ("her painted-on eyebrows, her small, hostile unintelligent eyes"). Sometimes this low-key, diarylike method works extremely well, and, as Jan Morris notes in her introduction, Adams's "apparently ingenuous jottings turn out to be more calculated than they seem." All too often, however, we are left hungering for more. Adams's hints and suggestions, which in a novel could reveal character, seem insufficient to tackle the inner workings of an entire nation. She also includes far too many details of the mechanics of travel—missed buses, bad meals, hassles with taxi drivers, etc. Adams approaches travel writing with the same mannerly, elliptical style that distinguishes her fiction. The results are mixed.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0671792776
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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