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AN EVIL CRADLING

Name: AN EVIL CRADLING
Author: Brian Keenan
ISBN: 0-670-85146-9

THE FIVE-YEAR ORDEAL OF A HOSTAGE

by Brian Keenan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1993

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A hostage memoir unlike any other—because from the nearly unimaginable degradations that Keenan, a working-class Irishman, suffered for four and a half years at the hands of Muslim extremists, he's woven not only a compelling tale of endurance but an indelible testament to, as he puts it, ``the richness, perhaps even enchantment, of humanity.'' In 1986, Keenan, then 36 and teaching in Beirut, was snatched by Shi'ite gunmen—an act he describes in the kind of penetrative detail that distinguishes his narrative: ``I noticed two of [the gunmen] breathing very fast. These men were not exhausted by an expenditure of energy, but by fear. That erratic breathing was a deadly give-away....'' Keenan dealt with his own fear by telling himself that he would be released within two weeks; after that time and more had passed in terrible isolation, he slipped into a hallucinatory madness (``Excrement, sweat, the perspiration of a body and a mind passing through waves of desperation'') that he resolved to combat by ``becoming my own self-observer...letting madness take me where it would as long as I stood outside it and watched it.'' This technique preserved Keenan for his salvation: his forced bunking-down with hostage John McCarthy, an upper-class Brit. In their crucible of suffering, the two forged a friendship and then a love that transcended societal divisions—an unashamed sharing of their frail humanity that allowed them to bear the humiliations to come: ``[The jailer] was the violent lover and his abuse of my body was a kind of rape...I made no noise as each blow landed and was driven into me. My resistance was a joyful thing.'' Joyful, too, albeit less transfiguring, was the author's bonding with other hostages who came and went, including Terry Anderson. Finally, in 1990, as suddenly as he was taken, Keenan was set free. Harrowing; exalting; unforgettable.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-670-85146-9

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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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.