A grab bag, but a devil of a good one for the most part.
Diverse work about roots and catastrophe by the gifted essayist and novelist.
This collection of short pieces by Piazza (City of Refuge, 2008, etc.) doesn’t entirely hang together, but still mirrors the versatile author’s many great strengths. The first of the three sections contains his writing about music, much of it drawn from his tenure as Southern Music columnist for the Oxford American. It is highlighted by his unforgettable, wildly colorful profile of the idiosyncratic bluegrass musician Jimmy Martin, published in book form as True Adventures with the King of Bluegrass (1999). Piazza also provides thoughtful considerations of prewar bluesman Charley Patton (one of whose songs supplies the tome’s title), country pioneer Jimmie Rodgers and pathfinding New Orleans jazzman Jelly Roll Morton; some smart (mostly commissioned) pieces about Bob Dylan; the Grammy-winning notes for a boxed set overview of the blues; and sensitive profiles of rockabilly great Carl Perkins and gospel singer Rev. Willie Morganfield, cousin of bluesman Muddy Waters. The second section is less focused and hence less satisfying. Piazza is a longtime New Orleans resident, and several of the pieces focus on his reactions to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which he dealt with at full length in both the novel City of Refuge and the nonfiction work Why New Orleans Matters (2005). Coruscating with outrage, these entries—which include an edited online chat from the Washington Post and an exchange of private letters—read like adjuncts to those books; the best of them weighs the disaster through the unlikely prism of several old Charlie Chan films. Also included are homages to Norman Mailer, Piazza’s friend and literary model, which sit uneasily next to the other chapters. A brief third section wraps the book with a meditation on the moral core (or lack thereof) of Gustave Flaubert’s fiction and a lovely report about shopping for 78s at a New Orleans flea market after the deluge.
A grab bag, but a devil of a good one for the most part.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-200822-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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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