Sweet reflections on adopting a positive perspective.
A career woman–turned–stay-at-home mother shares her thoughts on embracing inner joy in this debut essay collection.
Following the birth of her second child, Lucindi and her husband made the decision that she would leave her career and stay at home with their girls. “I really didn’t love running around the park chasing my girls for hours every day,” she writes. Lucindi missed her investment job and wondered if she had made a “big mistake.” After reading about another female executive who made a similar choice, the author thought that she could approach all of life’s tasks with the same enthusiasm she had for her career. Finding happiness is the running theme of this collection of 13 personal essays; each has a questioning title (“Are You Sleeping?” “Are You Laughing?” etc.). In her first essay, “Can You Hold a Natarajasana Pose Forever?” she discusses her love for and practice of yoga, noting that “maintaining the focus to maintain balance forever is impossible, making striving for joy during imbalance important.” Lucindi similarly ruminates on dust bunnies, misbehaving children, and the value of letting go, as when zip lining during a family vacation in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican saying/question “¿Pura Vida?” is the title of Lucindi’s final essay, which she concludes by saying “May ‘pura vida,’ or Joy, be alive and well within you always!” This collection isn’t all that substantial; it consists of quick sketches of highly personal musings. Still, the reflections are heartfelt and will be attractive to other stay-at-home parents, particularly as Lucindi explores in her essay “What Do You Do?” how “this seemingly harmless question can be paralyzing.” There’s a dash of appealing humor, too, as in “What’s Up with the Tooth Fairy?” which ends with a plea to “Love yourself and others when they aren’t perfect.” Overall, a charming if brief collection.
Sweet reflections on adopting a positive perspective.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-935332-91-6
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Nov. 27, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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