The brilliant Polish science-fiction writer (Peace on Earth, 1994, etc.) reflects on his childhood between world wars. In a memoir as playful and witty as any of his novels, Lem recalls childhood days in the city of Lvov in the 1930s. The son of a well-to-do doctor, Lem was a pudgy, somewhat pampered child with a habit of destruction. "I was a monster," he comments drily, reflecting on his childhood manipulativeness and habit of smashing toys. He was also tirelessly curious and always hungry, a voracious reader and a voracious eater. Consequently, many of his most amusing recollections center on candy, pastries, and promoting the cash to indulge in them. He also reexplores the mysteries of the family home, fondly recalling a fascination with his father's medical texts, with their colored plates that deconstructed the human body, and the off-limits (hence, doubly enticing) precincts of his father's examining room. Lem writes with affection and insight of the ongoing war between students and teachers in his gymnasium (Highcastle was a nearby ruin that students would repair to when a class was suddenly cancelled), and he recounts his childhood collecting manias with relish. Above all, in the course of this lengthy essay on his youth, he offers some witty but sober reflections on the nature of memory (which "often fails to retain what matters to me, while retaining what I care nothing about") and, indirectly, on the tragedy of Polish history. A charming, effervescent memoir from a writer who consistently transcends genre.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-15-140218-3
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1995
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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