This spirited, humane collection of letters from Naipaul’s (Beyond Belief, 1998; etc.) second decade of life gathers the triangular exchanges between the young Oxford student, his father in Trinidad, and his sister, Kamla, in India—and records the initiations of family death and authorial triumph. After winning a government scholarship at age 17, Naipaul——Vidia——left his native Trinidad in 1950 for England. This volume begins on the eve of his departure, with letters to his sister, a vivid figure both passionate and appealingly erratic. The teenager consoles her loneliness as she attends school in India, and also fussily plans for his coming journey. Once in England, he begins the grind of school, composition, submission, and touring the country. Meanwhile, Kamla worries about her brother’s filial piety and the wayward life of an Oxford undergraduate. His father, however, takes the developments in stride—and for those interested in Naipaul’s apprenticeship as a writer, their implicit debate is engaging. Naipaul’s father, Seepersand, a newspaper writer who wrestled with fiction in his free time, is both partner and mentor in the imaginative enterprise. He relies on his son to see to the practical affairs of submitting his own work in England, and makes collegial observations about the life of the mind (as well as on the genesis of his own novel, The Adventures of Gurudeva). Vidia finally breaks through at the BBC, where many of his stories are broadcast, and with his halting attempts at a novel. In 1953, Seepersand dies after a history of heart disease, just three years too soon to see the final acceptance of Vidia’s first novel, The Mystic Masseur. In a wonderful departure from —today I had for breakfast— collections of letters, Naipaul not only offers intriguing insights into his passage toward artistry, but tells a bittersweet, genuinely rewarding tale.
Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2000
ISBN: 0-375-40730-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
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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