A collection of short stories, always able and sometimes notable, range from England to Africa to the continent, from lighter sketches to soberer commentaries on beaten, broken lives, and are distinguished by their quietly perspicacious view of human existence and experience. For those who remember her The Grass Is Singing (1950) there are several, desolate South African scenes: a woman maintains her gracious notions on an isolated South African farm but submits to the coarsest relationship possible with an itinerant insurance salesman; subdued, apologetic Mrs. Slatter holds as her only hope- in her life with a brutal, unfaithful husband- the fact she may grow old quickly; a young girl, running away from home, will walk the streets willingly rather than return. The title story concerns the sad dependence of an aging man- once successful with women- and professionally prominent- on a younger woman; there is the defective boy whose only lien to the world in which he lives is the body of his mother; and there's a sinister, searching story of the aftermath of the war- as two young English doctors try to find the congenial, sentimental Germany of the past in her present and see only the lingering stigmata of Naziism..... An audience- while deserved- may be difficult to assure.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1957
ISBN: 0445083905
Page Count: 317
Publisher: T.Y. Crowell
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1958
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
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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