Embarrassing, self-indulgent and just plain boring.
Soloway, an Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s Six Feet Under, should have quit while she was ahead.
Instead, she proffers this dreary collection of autobiographical essays describing her obsession with celebrities, the boring sex she’s had, her shrink, her friendships with gay men, her dislike of dogs, her home office with the purple walls and the “hippie-dippie Moroccan bed.” Soloway (whose short story “Courtney Cox’s Asshole” was collected in Best American Erotica 2003 and caught the attention of director Alan Ball) is so fed up with the opposite sex that she wants to buy a tract of land in northern California, to be populated entirely by women; men can come for visits. Worried that a name like Wombtown would scare off potential recruits, she decides to call her haven Feather Crest. The author has a tiring penchant for WRITING IN ALL CAPS and using lots of exclamation marks!!! Despite her insistence in the introduction that this book is not mainly about sex, Soloway provides plenty of sex talk throughout. That would be fine if it didn’t seem gratuitous and superfluous, but often it is. (Ex: “Have you ever had a penis in your mouth and thought, ‘What the hell am I doing? I have a penis in my mouth!’” At least it wasn’t all in caps.) Occasionally, Soloway gets a laugh—her comparison of Jewish men and construction workers in bed is pretty droll—but most of her attempts at humor are just not smart enough to be funny. Her musings on her son’s Jewish identity are engaging, and the essay “Monica, Chandra, and Me” morphs magically from an intriguing analysis of Monica Lewinsky into a stirring ode to Soloway’s parents and grandparents. But these elevated moments are too few.
Embarrassing, self-indulgent and just plain boring.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2005
ISBN: 0-7432-7217-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Free Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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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