Fulghum offers a disclaimer at the outset of this collection of new essays: ``Nothing definitive is intended on any subject. In fact, I am deliberately depending on your adding your thoughts and experiences....The book will not work without your taking significant responsibility for it.'' Uh-oh. Sounds like the Fulghum machine is running out of steam—and the ensuing pages read like it, too. Like the offerings in the megaselling It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It (1989) and All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (1988), these rambling conversational musings resemble notes for homilies by a puckish minister (which Unitarian Fulghum has been) who likes to tweak his congregants without making anyone uncomfortable. There are a few relatively mind-opening anecdotes here (a juggler at a Christmas Eve service whose equipment was stolen but who nonetheless managed to wow the audience by juggling illusions; a prized cigar of the author's, laid down for a moment and picked up by an elderly passerby who savored it so thoroughly that Fulghum says, ``The old man may have smoked it, but I've not enjoyed a cigar more''). A school play of Cinderella in which a little fat boy who insisted on playing a pig (nonexistent in the script) steals the show, weddings and funerals relieved of their deadly solemnity by inappropriate bodily noises, the author's decision to liven up a dumpy day by eating Cheerios and jellybeans and walking to his office wearing his granddaughter's beanie copter—the trademark Fulghum themes are here as well, but the charm seems thinner, the sentimentality thicker, and the writing slacker. At his best, Fulghum's simple verities and undemanding spirituality have made him a brand-name remedy for our age's malaise. This is not his best, but the placebo effect will probably carry it to best-sellerdom. (Literary Guild Dual Selection for September.)
Pub Date: Aug. 26, 1991
ISBN: 0-679-40103-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1991
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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