Communist Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping has been a major player on the world stage, but his daughter/biographer Deng Maomao fails to do him justice. Deng's turgid prose may be the fault of the translation, and no one expects objectivity from a daughter writing about a living father, but this out-and-out hagiography contains nothing to make up for those faults. She does describe in detail Deng's youth in Sichuan Province and also traces his travels to France, where as an exchange student he studied socialist ideology. This was a pivotal period in Deng's life, which laid the political framework for the war against the Nationalist Chinese. Deng's years as a young revolutionary in China are covered adequately enough, and there is worthwhile material on his relationship with Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders. However, the book is ultimately frustrating because the biographer chooses to end the narrative with the Communists' coming to power, and the reader is left wanting to know about Deng's tenure at the top. That is an unsettling omission for a biography of a prominent political figure. Further, rather than confining herself to Deng's life, the author attempts to cover the entire Chinese Revolution and the dynasties proceeding it. Her qualifier that she is not a historian is unnecessary; the reader soon grasps her shortcomings in that area. The younger Deng also has an irritating habit of drifting into political jeremiads, and the book suffers terribly from its poor organization. Despite the great disappointment, old and young ``China hands'' will have to at least peruse this to keep up with the current view on the historic events that swept China in this century—which matches the course of Deng Xiaoping's life. (b&w photos; maps, not seen)
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-01625-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
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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