An extraordinary affirmation of life as the late French journalist Guibert, writing in the final stages of AIDS, records with moving frankness the reprieve granted him by the experimental drug DDL. In his previous book, To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life (1991), Guibert candidly chronicled the passage of AIDS through his body, and now, if not reconciled to dying, he at least relishes the temporary lease the new drug affords him. Given only to those in the final days of the disease, it is drug of compassion rather than aggression, and, taken together with the occasional Prozac, enables Guibert to start writing again, even to travel to his beloved island of Elba. Still, there is a problem, since supplies are limited; even Guibert's first batch was illegally acquired from a doctor tending a near-death ballet dancer. Guibert admits to being troubled by this, but his scruples are overcome by his improved health. Once unable to eat, leave his apartment, or write, he can now live more fully: ``I wasn't euphoric, but the threat of absolute black despair had dissipated a little, it was there underneath but was no longer vibrating in that intolerable way.'' Obliged still to undergo endless medical procedures, many excruciatingly painful, he categorizes his various doctors as brutal ``pig-stickers'' or—as in the case of the beautiful Claudette—as kind, gentle friends. He notes ironically that his earlier book brought him luck—``it had a success that comforted me at an intermediate stage of my illness.'' And he observes now that ``everything in life is negotiable''; DDL has been yet another instrument for negotiating more time and strength. Guibert's great passion for life and literature illuminates this exemplary—and deceptively cool—piece of clinical reportage with a fierce and incandescent light.
Pub Date: March 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8067-1352-5
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Braziller
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1994
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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