One of our best novelists proves once again that he’s one of our best writers.
Books and authors, universal and personal history and miscellaneous arcana are carefully considered in this sixth showcase of Updike’s (Terrorist, 2006, etc.) tireless versatility and imposing range of interests.
Following the pattern established by such stimulating predecessors as Hugging the Shore (1983) and Odd Jobs (1991), it vividly reflects the motions of a busy mind finely attuned to the worlds it inhabits, explores and celebrates. Under the rubric “Everything Considered,” for example, Updike ponders features common to “works written late in an writer’s life”; the pleasures and distortions of literary biography; the sensual feel of “metal money” (i.e., coins, as opposed to paper currency); the enjoyment of playing poker physically (and not electronically); and cars he has owned (and, sometimes, loved). Tributory essays pay homage to such dissimilar figures as the late John F. Kennedy Jr. and the neglected Midwestern novelist Wright Morris. The man of letters in Updike responds eloquently when introducing new editions or translations of classic works (e.g., the Welsh Mabinogion, Thoreau’s Walden). Though often a cheerleader, Updike is never uncritical or facile, whether examining L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz as a quest novel or arguing that Uncle Tom’s Cabin benefits because its crusading author “repeatedly confronts the most accessible argument for atheism. God’s apparent silence and indifference to human suffering.” Modern American writers from Edmund Wilson to Jonathan Safran Foer, and their UK counterparts, from William Trevor to Ian McEwan, receive respectful critical attention—as do works written “In Other Tongues” by such masters as Álvaro Mutis (Colombia’s Faulkner), Turkey’s Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Japan’s beguiling Nobel contender Haruki Murakami. Such critical gems are the heart of the book, but don’t overlook rich essays on artists (e.g., Goya, Dürer, Piranesi), or, among the volume’s concluding ephemera, three perfect paragraphs on the assigned subject, “What I Believe.”
One of our best novelists proves once again that he’s one of our best writers.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-307-26640-8
Page Count: 736
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
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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