To any reader who met Baroness Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) first through her memorable Out of Africa these new pieces carrying us back to her African plantation will be heart warming news. Twenty five years absence has depended the memories, sharpened certain features, and made possible these human reflections of the life and the people that gave it meaning. Her Somali servant, Farah, emerges life size, a towering presence — "my servant by the grace of God"- who made her every action and decision momentous. After a quarter of a century she can sub-title her pen sketch "Portrait of a Gentleman". There's humor as well as philosophical content in her choice of incidents to round out this sketch. And there is, too, a growing understanding of his religion as a Muslim. There are others of her staff and her neighborhood but this stands out. Then too she writes of adventures — of hunting and the lion she shot, feeding on a dead giraffe; of her role, confessedly one imposed by a superstition-ridden people, as a healer, with a scrap of letter written by her king as a magic piece; of Abdullah, Farah's small brother, and the different place he held in her household, in her life. Throughout one senses deeply the role she played as mistress and friend — and the philosophy that grew within her in the ten years she struggled to keep the plantation intact. The writing needs no encomiums; every reader knows there is delight in store.
Pub Date: Jan. 3, 1960
ISBN: 0140180435
Page Count: 106
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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