The perceptive memoir of a 42-year-old British publisher’s tortuous journey of recovery after a stroke. A successful man in the prime of life, just two months after marrying New York Times writer Sarah Lyall, is suddenly rendered helpless by a stroke so complete that he’s reduced to almost infantlike abilities. But McCrum’s years as the editor-in-chief of Faber & Faber in London serve him in good stead. He uses his tragedy to learn more about himself and, through his research and revelations, provides others in similar circumstances with a road map of sorts through a very rocky trip. McCrum (co-author of The Story of English, 1986, etc.) must start from scratch to relearn how to walk, talk, and handle the tasks of daily living. In addition to tracing the baby steps he begins, literally, to take, My Year Off also chronicles McCrum’s battle with depression, his feelings of shame at his “reduced” state, his fears about the future, and the toll the “insult to the brain” has taken on his very new marriage. “Who am I?” he writes. “It was a question that would nag throughout my year off, and even now I am still not free of a persistent, and possibly pointless, anxiety about the existential and psychic meaning of my illness.” The book includes excerpts from both McCrum’s and his wife’s diaries, thereby making the book useful for victim and caregiver alike. Also included is the little medical information now available about strokes—especially sobering, since each year in Britain alone some 10,000 people of working age will suffer one. A vivid reminder to seize the day. (First serial to the New Yorker; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-393-04656-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1998
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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