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COUSIN FELIX MEETS THE BUDDHA

Name: COUSIN FELIX MEETS THE BUDDHA
Author: Lincoln Kaye
ISBN: 0-374-29998-6

AND OTHER ENCOUNTERS IN CHINA AND TIBET

by Lincoln Kaye ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2003

Well-written, humorous, and instructive: a useful resource for China-watchers and travelers. (17 b&w drawings, not seen,...

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A literate journey into some remote corners of Asia in a puzzling time.

Call this one big “enterprise story,” that being the term employed by old-school journalists (the kind who chewed cigars, stayed up all night drinking whiskey, and banged out great stories with two fingers) to describe a junket somewhere in the hope of turning up an accidental bit of news. A restless traveler, veteran Far Eastern Economic Review Asia bureau chief Kaye was stationed in Beijing just after the Tiananmen Square massacre, a time when “there was nothing to cover but official lies and bluster.” From this base, he took the entire nation of China as his beat, turning up odd stories for the Economic Review and the Wall Street Journal. Here he recounts his experiences in “the new China” after Deng Xiaoping mandated a turn from insular socialism to a state-controlled, quasi-capitalist economic system that has made fortunes for some individuals while leaving others in feudal poverty. The modernization of the economy, Kaye observes, has been accompanied by the restitution of traditional practices such as ancestor worship, which had been all too easily suppressed under the regime of “Red dynast” Mao—after all, he writes, “totalitarian snitch culture encouraged betrayal of your living intimates; how much easier to forsake your dead ones.” At the same time, modernization has meant shedding old ways of doing things and shrugging off some, but not all, of the shoddy communist past. Following the tracks of homeless farmers, day laborers, Buddhist pilgrims, bureaucrats, and budding entrepreneurs, Kaye explores this dichotomy of conservative restoration and creative destruction, illustrating his points with telling anecdotes and apt quotes. Consider this comment from Cousin Felix, an overseas Chinese businessman and master of the influence-peddling art of guanxi who seems to be on a constant quest for both “mainland babes” and spiritual enlightenment: “Imagine the hot flashes when an ancient Dragon Lady like China goes into menopause!”

Well-written, humorous, and instructive: a useful resource for China-watchers and travelers. (17 b&w drawings, not seen, by Kaye’s Taiwanese wife, Hsu Mei-lang)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-374-29998-6

Page Count: 480

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

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

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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

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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

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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.