bookshelf

TILTING

Name: TILTING
Author: Nicole Harkin
ISBN: 978-1-61296-892-6

by Nicole Harkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 22, 2017

A memorable story of intriguing people even if the author’s emotional journey doesn’t pack a big punch.

bookshelf

A daughter grapples with loss in this tender memoir of a troubled family.

After debut author Harkin’s father, Jack, contracted a mysterious infection that caused multiple strokes, she took a leave of absence from college in 1996 to return home to Montana and attend to him. Her family wasn’t well-equipped to deal with the sudden illness, she says; her mother, Linda, wasn’t even sure where her husband kept the family’s money. His work as an airline pilot resulted in a childhood of frequent moves and unpredictable living situations; once, the author’s sister, Erica, came home from school to find a note on the door with a new address, signed “Love, Mom.” Still, the family managed to build a treasure trove of memories, vacations, and adventures, as a family dinner ended with Linda pretending to be a lima bean. But running through it all, Harkin writes, was an undercurrent of anxiety. One time in 1983, Linda chillingly imitated the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz until the 8-year-old Harkin cried. Her father also had a longtime affair that loomed over the family and led to more secrets being revealed. As the family worried over whether to take him off life support, an even bigger loss forced the author to hold her siblings close. Harkin lovingly creates portraits of various figures in her life, from their family friend with a “Kentucky twang” to Linda, who becomes the heart of the story. The narrator does a fine job of mining her childhood for sweet stories that contrast with the sour turn that her parents’ marriage takes. The latter half of the memoir, though, comes in a rush, with some epiphanies that seem forced (as when one chapter ends, “We could choose to be a functioning family”). Readers may also wish that the author’s interior life were portrayed as vividly as her memories of others. Still, she honestly shows her family’s flaws and quirks.

A memorable story of intriguing people even if the author’s emotional journey doesn’t pack a big punch.

Pub Date: June 22, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-61296-892-6

Page Count: 204

Publisher: Black Rose Writing

Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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.