Light reading for souls who crave small doses of extreme adventure.
Anthology of reports from the edges of human civilization, including 17 new pieces and 6 short works of fiction, from esteemed essayist Millman (An Evening Among Headhunters, 1998, etc.).
Readers who enjoy the author’s work in National Geographic, Smithsonian, and other periodicals will be pleased to know that the 32 pieces collected here are characteristically thoughtful and occasionally very funny. As suggested by the title, many of them explore life on the remote fringes of the Arctic. In addition to the eponymous true story about being marooned on a remote Arctic island, Millman also offers tales about one-on-one confrontations with wild Kodiak bears and his quest to find the bones of explorer Henry Hudson. He provides variety by including several essays that venture below the Arctic Circle, one about mistaking a private residence for a hotel in the Ecuadorian mountains and another describing his visit to a witch-doctor in the western Pacific Yap islands to rid himself a mysterious rash. Even his commentary on American experiences explores our cultural frontiers; he finds an inflatable sex-doll floating in Walden Pond and describes his fellow tourists’ reactions to him as he carries it back to the park’s waste receptacle. His fiction, whether it examines an Irish community’s reaction to the accidental exhumation of a 19th-century suicide or provides a twisted account of Scandinavian cannibalism during a period of extreme famine, has the same tense and quirky tone as the nonfiction. Though his subject matter is often extreme, Millman’s wit and humor will inspire chuckles of recognition and reflection from fans and new readers alike.
Light reading for souls who crave small doses of extreme adventure.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-56025-411-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
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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