Strongly recommended for fans of good advocacy journalism as well as longtime admirers of Rushdie.
Sometimes pensive, sometimes marvelously funny, always lucid essays, reviews, and occasional pieces by the renowned Anglo-Indian novelist (Fury, 2001, etc.).
Though he’s had a price on his head for more than a dozen years, having offended fundamentalist Muslim clerical sensibilities with The Satanic Verses, Rushdie is not shy of controversy. Indeed, he steps out of the corner swinging, badmouthing political enemies, twitting the refined sensibilities of eminent critics (“the map in Professor [George] Steiner’s head is an imperial map, and Europe’s empires are long gone”), complaining at bad press (“Apparently I am the only person not allowed to make fatwa cracks. My job, no doubt, is to be the butt of them”), and, brilliantly, proving that the cost of his police protection while hiding from would-be assassins has been minimal (“During these dark years I have paid a great deal of income tax on those big book deals and large royalties of which segments of the media—and Islamic members of the House of Lords—so disapprove. I would suggest that the British exchequer has actually made a net profit on our strange relationship”). When not sparring against foes named and unnamed, Rushdie examines the curious history of The Wizard of Oz, revisits the India of his youth, exults in the pleasures of being a rock star for a day (while croaking along onstage with the Irish rebel rockers U2, much to the horror of his teenage son, though, as Rushdie slyly notes, “An association with U2 is good for one’s anecdote stock”), and ventures opinions on such matters as the Elián González affair, the turmoil in Kosovo, the Concorde air crash, and the last American presidential election. It’s all wonderful stuff, arch and eminently literate. And it’s sure to get Rushdie in still more trouble, especially when he ventures observations such as: “Islam is tough on suicides, who are doomed to repeat their deaths through all eternity. However, there needs to be a thorough examination, by Muslims everywhere, of why it is that the faith they love breeds so many violent mutant strains.”
Strongly recommended for fans of good advocacy journalism as well as longtime admirers of Rushdie.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2002
ISBN: 0-679-46334-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
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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