Essays on the myriad pleasing details of family life by the author of Daddy's Home! (1990), an English professor (Sarah Lawrence) with an eye for the magic in the mundane. ``What is this thing called love, I wonder, lying beside my wife on a narrow sofa in the middle of a Sunday afternoon....How have we managed to navigate the sandy shoals of marriage and parenthood...? And what, God forbid, would we ever do without each other, entwined as we are, body and soul?'' So go Schnur's unabashedly sentimental ruminations on the birth of love and the complex family life that can result—as perfectly pitched for Valentine's Day as a Hallmark card. Having married his high-school sweetheart, a graphic artist, Schnur went on to buy a small house in the country, work as a magazine editor, and, eventually, hope for kids. It took a number of years—the Schnurs had their bout with fertility clinics—but they finally hit the jackpot with a first child and then, shortly thereafter, twins. Along the way, Schnur found he adored being the neighborhood ``dad''—more available than most of his neighbors for horsey-riding, swing- pushing, hair-mussing, and baseball-tossing. It's in these little moments that he finds material for his essays: in ``Love Letters,'' wherein the sight of a mother walking with her children inspires him to write a note to his wife; in ``The Universe Over Breakfast,'' in which Schnur attempts to discuss metaphysics with his family at eight in the morning; in ``Four Generations,'' in which Schnur's grandmother plays with her great-granddaughter and wishes she could see the child when she is grown. Offering few true literary insights, and at times smacking of a deliberate intent to manipulate and charm. Nevertheless, a pleasant diversion for those with no time to smell the flowers in their own backyards.
Pub Date: Jan. 17, 1992
ISBN: 0-688-11022-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1991
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
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
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