Not just the drabs and dribs of the 1972 posthumous collection, The Time Element, with some stories that are stronger along with occasional ones which are flat and have been overtaken by time. O'Hara — you know him well — from Gibbsville to Hollywood to Ohio, from country clubs to poolrooms, from men of property to some of lesser circumstance like unremarkable "George Munson," from fathers to incommunicado sons ("I'm sorry, son, but I guess we didn't have much to go on. Golf isn't enough") or the husband with a wife to whom he addresses an annual "Christmas Poem" — in other words the all kinds O'Hara wrote. Among the best, "Sound View" and the title story (more recent — 1968) about the man who cracked up after having given up trying. . . Always there is the remarkable facility, the class cachet ("If there are family reasons for going to Pomfret you'll have to make allowances") and the mimetic accuracy with which he transfixed certain people in certain places at certain times.
Pub Date: Aug. 16, 1974
ISBN: 0340194367
Page Count: 297
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1974
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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