This spirited, humane collection of letters from Naipaul’s (Beyond Belief, 1998; etc.) second decade of life gathers the triangular exchanges between the young Oxford student, his father in Trinidad, and his sister, Kamla, in India—and records the initiations of family death and authorial triumph. After winning a government scholarship at age 17, Naipaul——Vidia——left his native Trinidad in 1950 for England. This volume begins on the eve of his departure, with letters to his sister, a vivid figure both passionate and appealingly erratic. The teenager consoles her loneliness as she attends school in India, and also fussily plans for his coming journey. Once in England, he begins the grind of school, composition, submission, and touring the country. Meanwhile, Kamla worries about her brother’s filial piety and the wayward life of an Oxford undergraduate. His father, however, takes the developments in stride—and for those interested in Naipaul’s apprenticeship as a writer, their implicit debate is engaging. Naipaul’s father, Seepersand, a newspaper writer who wrestled with fiction in his free time, is both partner and mentor in the imaginative enterprise. He relies on his son to see to the practical affairs of submitting his own work in England, and makes collegial observations about the life of the mind (as well as on the genesis of his own novel, The Adventures of Gurudeva). Vidia finally breaks through at the BBC, where many of his stories are broadcast, and with his halting attempts at a novel. In 1953, Seepersand dies after a history of heart disease, just three years too soon to see the final acceptance of Vidia’s first novel, The Mystic Masseur. In a wonderful departure from —today I had for breakfast— collections of letters, Naipaul not only offers intriguing insights into his passage toward artistry, but tells a bittersweet, genuinely rewarding tale.
Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-40730-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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