Plenty of atmosphere and attitude, but not much else; this would have been better as a snappy magazine article.
Definitely not your father’s travel guide: A native Venetian offers some playful aperçus about La Serenissima.
Venice is a fish: “How did this marvelous beast make its way up the Adriatic?” Venice is a tortoise: “its stone shell is made of grey trachite borders…which pave the streets.” Venice is whatever novelist, poet and playwright Scarpa feels like making of it in his English-language debut, an entertaining, highly idiosyncratic look at la dolce vita veneta. Organizing his random agglomeration of musings by parts of the body, he suggests in the chapter on feet that tourists simply let theirs wander. “Why fight the labyrinth?” he asks. “Let the streets decide your journey for you…Lose your bearings. Just drift.” Let your legs absorb the never-flat surfaces of the city’s calli (streets), open your heart to the “permanent state of romantic excitement” that leads Venetians to make love outdoors on every street corner. (There are some hilarious anecdotes in this chapter, including one about a guy who offers a jovial “Hi!” to a passing acquaintance without disturbing the activities of his girlfriend, kneeling in front of him.) Hands (rubbing centuries-old plaster), face (hidden behind the famous carnival masks), ears, mouth, nose, eyes—each gives the author an excuse to strut his stuff. Scarpa provides insider information about the best local dishes (wholemeal spaghetti, fried sardines and calves liver, each sautéed in oodles of onions); about the meaning of street names, which generally commemorate “foul deeds and popular customs”; about why the city is plagued by flooding (deep channels dug in the lagoon to accommodate oil tankers). It’s all exceedingly readable and agreeable—and nothing more. Venice’s remarkable 1,400-year history as a crossroads between East and West is nowhere in evidence, and the city’s character is rendered in such broad strokes that it approaches caricature.
Plenty of atmosphere and attitude, but not much else; this would have been better as a snappy magazine article.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-592-40407-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Gotham Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2008
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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