Though described as ``twenty interviews,'' what Pearlman (ed., American Women Writing Fiction, 1989, etc.) really gives us here is not Q&A talks but something more: brief and telling profiles of 20 women writers, with extensive conversational quotes from the authors. Pearlman presents a range of writers, encompassing veterans, relative newcomers, blacks, whites, and (one of each) Japanese-, Chinese-, Filipino- and Native Americans. Grace Paley, absent-minded and charming, who borrows Pearlman's telephone calling-card to call Pennsylvania but gets Utah instead, offers some pungent comments on literary careerism and applauds the new ethnic literatures. Sue Miller delights in seeing her books made into movies (``Anything that will broaden the audience for serious fiction is good''), while Anne Rice—whom we learn was named ``Howard O'Brien'' at birth, after her father—offers insight into American writing as a ``Protestant'' phenomena and complains about editors and book reviewers. Jessica Hagedorn, Fay Weldon, Jane Smiley, Jayne Anne Phillips, Terry Tempest Williams, and Shirley Abbott are among the others whom Pearlman speaks to in this engaging, informative collection.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-393-03442-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1992
BOOK REVIEW
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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