Well-wrought work strongly seasoned with polemic.
A skilled fiction-writer and essayist trains his eye on contemporary writers.
Mallon (Civil War novel Two Moons, 1999, etc.) writes for publications ranging from GQ to the Yale Review, and these pieces show a similar breadth: whether sizing up Nicholson Baker (whose strength, he writes, lies in depicting the small in epic proportions) or describing Don DeLillo as the first author to write a post–Cold War novel (Underworld, 1997), Mallon always follows the E.B. White school of prose: everything is clear and concise and definitive. Each essay is a model for those who aspire to the form, but the author uses his clarity to sharp ends: Mallon has literary bones to pick, especially with memoirists whom he views as more concerned with their own feelings and interior lives than the world around them. Twice Mallon writes that he’d “rather end the day having had one clear thought than one strong feeling” and, by the way he judges writers, the reader believes him. His love for thought, at the expense of feeling, is allied to his love for hard facts and historical fiction (he has written five historical novels). Sometimes this stance is right on target: his review of David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars (“Snow Falling on Readers”) blasts its sentimentality, moving anyone who enjoyed the story to shame. When attacking Will Self’s novels for failing to realize their own potential, however, one feels the specter of rigidity rearing its ugly head. And when he (partially) praises Edmund Morris’s biography of Ronald Reagan, Dutch, Mallon reveals that sometimes fact can be circumvented when it involves some of his favorite themes. But these, after all, are Mallon’s essays and, while sometimes they show cracks, they are fundamentally solid.
Well-wrought work strongly seasoned with polemic.Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2001
ISBN: 0-375-40916-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2000
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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