A crazy quilt with some nice patches.
In this anthology of poetry and prose by a self-consciously multicultural mix of authors, we are treated to stories, poems, and an introduction by novelist Danticat (The Farming of Bones, 1998, etc.). The first two sentences of Isabel Allende’s “Evangelina” set the tone: “At twelve o’clock noon Evangelina fell back on the bed. Her body trembled and a deep long moan, like a love call, ran through her.” Most of the other pieces are of equal intensity. Lois Ann Yamanaka’s description of a church service; Ifeona Fulani’s short story about Precious, who never wanted more than to go to the beach with a boy on the weekends; Walter Mosley’s description of interoffice mail worker Mona Donelli; Sherman Alexie’s tale about Spokane Indians and salmon; Robert Antonio’s “nasty story” of “How Crab-o Lost His Head.” These authors can turn a phrase, but one wishes, for variety’s sake, that the editor had looked farther afield than the New Yorker and Harper’s for fiction. The poetry is on a par with the prose. The most noteworthy poem is Ai’s “Charisma: A Fiction,” which evokes sex, God, and the apocalypse: “I absolved myself between a woman’s thighs / and I arose like Lazarus.”
A crazy quilt with some nice patches.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8070-6244-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2000
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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