bookshelf

LAUGHING IN THE DARK

Name: LAUGHING IN THE DARK
Author: Laurie Stone
ISBN: 0-88001-474-1

A DECADE OF SUBVERSIVE COMEDY

by Laurie Stone ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 1997

bookshelf

Novelist and Village Voice critic Stone (Starting with Serge, 1989) offers an anthology of poorly executed essays on stand-up comedy. Purportedly a study covering the last decade, this is instead a haphazardly organized collection of previously published pieces, written largely in a vernacular that will be lost on readers who are neither bicoastal nor metropolitan. Furthermore, Stone cannot avoid injecting her painfully PC views into nearly every piece, which would not be terrible were it not for her amazing inconsistency. A blind spot vis-Ö-vis Judaism shows, and her criticism of Fiddler on the Roof in a discussion of revitalized Yiddish theater belies a loathing for Orthodoxy in particular. It seems only Jewish comics like Danny Hoch (who, admittedly, is one of the lesser-knowns that Stone features in Laughing), who are sufficiently secular and mulitcultural, are acceptable to Stone. Elsewhere, Stone is careless and even cruel, as in her comparison of a comedian to the ``surface flash and pointlessness of minimalist fiction''—tell that to Gass or Sorentino—or her statement regarding Spalding Gray's eye disease that ``in this age of AIDS and cancer, the threat of blindness to one eye has to be a comedy.'' And with all her deserved attention to the rise of gay comedy, there is no mention of Canada's Kids in the Hall, the troupe that revolutionized drag and gay comedy in the 1980s and toured the US only two years ago. Clearly a book for Stone fans only; to the reader looking for an unbiased, funny view, caveat emptor.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1997

ISBN: 0-88001-474-1

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1997

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MY LIFE AS AN ANIMAL
by Laurie Stone

- BOOK REVIEW
CLOSE TO THE BONE
edited by Laurie Stone

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.