Early's mushy, self-conscious essays recounting discussions with his daughters, poems to them, and diary excerpts have the appeal of a stranger's family album. Indeed, Early (Lure and Loathing, 1993) remains a stranger. He hints at trouble in his marriage and admits to having felt ashamed of his children but reveals little else about himself. In a preface he claims that writing about his daughters interested him because it would give him a chance to discuss females without having to confront feminist discourse. Yet in trying to avoid any tinge of the political, Early seems to fail to connect altogether. In these scenes from Early family life, his daughters, Linnet and Rosalind, never develop distinct personalities, and it is often difficult to gauge how old they are in a given episode. In ``A Racial Education, Part Two'' Early explains that as a professor of African-American studies (Washington Univ.) he is immersed in black culture, yet he shies away from popular Afrocentric thinking and culture. This segues into disparaging comments from Linnet about classmates who claim to be Afrocentric yet have little concrete knowledge about Africa, followed by Early's reading an Etheridge Knight poem to his family, and Rosalind insisting that he read from Robert Louis Stevenson instead (``Are you trying to tell us something about being black, Daddy?''). These are all meaningful occurrences, but they do not gel. Early has an authoritative voice that often slips into a pompous, scholarly tone, and many of the conversations with his daughters have an unnatural feeling, as though everyone in the Early household were constantly speechifying. It is difficult to swallow that when Early and Rosalind were in the car together one day and barely avoided an accident, he had the presence of mind immediately afterwards to pronounce, ``You're gonna die one day, Ros. But not today and not by my hand.'' Interesting but rarely illuminating.
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-201-62724-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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