The serendipities and pitfalls of foreign travel fuel Dodson’s great loving embrace of fatherhood.
A happy-go-lucky noodle around the “backyard of Western civilization” with Dodson and fils.
It was to be an eight-week, 40,000-mile round-the-world tour for Dodson—a man who truly enjoys rambling about with his children—and his 11-year-old son Jack, also known as Nibs: across Europe, a dip into Africa to see the black rhinos, then moonlight on the Taj Mahal, the view from the Great Wall. It would be a roving Chautauqua, a broadening of experience and the spirit. It doesn’t turn out that way, at least not geographically, but western Europe does very nicely for father and son and their episodic traveling companions, giving Dodson a chance to dispense both his erudition—the collective wisdom of Ben Jonson, Martin Luther, Lord Byron, and Cyndi Lauper, among others, fall easily from his lips—with great humor. (Maybe one reason Dodson has so much fun traveling with his kids is that he believes in the power of laughter.) Traveling without reservations or firm schedule, the two become certified fools in Glastonbury, devour every museum Paris offers, and, since the US embassy suggests it may not be the best time to voyage into Africa, head north to Holland, land of Vermeer, Rembrandt, chiaroscuro, dope, and sex (“‘Hey, Dad, what’s that?’ Jack called out excitedly. . . . ‘I think that’s the world’s largest plastic vagina, son’ ”), and go on to Ghent, where a shopkeeper cackles of the German tourist influx, “Fifty years ago they came with tanks. Now they come with American Express cards.” Dodson’s fatherly advice to Nibs—there’s plenty, from girls to bullies to faith—is less didactic here than in Final Rounds (1996), more self-effacing and sincere: “The nude body is nothing to be ashamed of, Nibs. Unless of course, it’s mine.”
The serendipities and pitfalls of foreign travel fuel Dodson’s great loving embrace of fatherhood.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-525-94762-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2003
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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