profil de D. P. Birkett

After Grand Central Station, Sep 5 2006

This is primarily of interest to admirers of "By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept" and to those who, like me, got hooked on the soap opera/gossip angle by reading "The Chameleon Poet" and "By Heart." I understand that Rafaella Barker will be giving the story from her viewpoint shortly.
The author is even harder on George Barker than Fraser was. He even deprives Barker of the credit for suggesting the title of BGCSISDAW. I suppose that, as the son who had to defend his mother and sisters and baby brother, he was entitled to be judgmental. It's a wonderfully written account of a resilient personality surviving an appalling childhood and bitterness is remarkable by its… Lire la suite

Out with forks, Juil 2 2004

"Within Arm's Reach" is a long four generation family saga about a New Jersey family whose self-defeating behavior is largely explained in terms of ethnicity (a nice Jewish guy comes along at the end to rescue them from all that Irishness). I was reminded at times of Brendan Behan"s "Lord help the Irish, if it was raining soup they'd be out with forks."
We are first introduced to a whisky-drinking lawyer who sends his children to single sex catholic schools, keeps getting his wife pregnant, and does not believe in co-parenting. He demonstrates his lack of co-parenting skills by dumping two dead babies in the garbage on the third page. (Sorry if that sounds in bad taste but the babies… Lire la suite

Christmas chicklit, Jui 25 2004

It's Christmas in Mahattan and Madison is is her thirties, hanging out with friends and remembering the boyfriends she had on previous Christmases and why they turned out not to be Mr. Right. That's about it for plot (well one of the exes returns and guess what happens).
Anything with such a slight plot depends on good characterization, sparkling dialog and great writing but I wouldn't put Alexannder in the great category. There are nice contrasting descriptions of New York and San Francisco scenes (visual and social)and of her group of friends. Sex and Christmas ornaments and food are lovingly described. (She drinks horrible mixtures of booze).
There's a faint suggestion that… Lire la suite