Frustratingly superficial journeys to some of the world's most ecologically and politically complicated places. Entranced in his midwestern childhood by Tarzan and Jungle Jim, journalist Alexander grew up with rain forest dreams and a persistent sense that life in the jungle would be ``reduced to its essentials, written in sharp contrasts.'' The reality, when he began to visit the jungle himself, was far more tangled and confusing, but still the promise of exotic travel was an effective antidote to the even more confusing world of adult decisions and ambitions. Ranging far afield, Alexander has looked for rhinos in Malaysia's Taman Negara and tried to unscramble the swarm of acronymic organizations working in and for the PetÇn rain forest in Guatemala. He has hiked to Boiling Lake on the Caribbean island of Dominica and visited its feisty, tweed-skirted, octogenarian prime minister. Restlessly following his ``vague craving,'' he sometimes wonders if ``rain forests seemed like a string of odd disappointments,'' always too full of grinding poverty, government stupidity, corporate greed, and disease-bearing insects. But the romance prevailsthe ``impossible luck'' that the infinite complexity of the jungle exists at all. Parts of Alexander's disjointed travelogue may catch the imagination, but his breezy style is too chatty to take seriously. Briefly introduced people and places litter the pages, and any attempt at deep thought dissolves into platitudes. There's a good point somewhere in here about the gap between the reality of rain forest life and the gringo's romantic ideal, but Alexander reduces it to a simpleminded ``they wanted to be more like us while we were trying to be more like them.''
Pub Date: Nov. 14, 1995
ISBN: 1-55821-399-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Lyons Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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