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Reviews (4)
05 July 2018
the right screws
As described, and arrived promptly.
07 December 2007
Magic Realism--An Imagined World
Nowadays many children's books are illustration-driven, with large but few pages. So it is with _Imagine a Night_, which consists of thirty pages about eleven inches square. Sixteen paintings by Rob Gonsalves reflect the influence of Dali and Escher, perhaps also of Jared French (minus, of course, the erotic suggestiveness), constructing a nocturnal world of fantasy in which different realities interpenetrate and the law of gravity, if not repealed, is at least mitigated. Sarah L. Thomson's text provides a minimalist commentary on the paintings, inviting the reader to enter this realm.
Although he engages in trompe l’oeil, Gonsalves does not attempt an entirely realistic presentation of human subjects; his figures and faces have that somewhat caricaturish quality often encountered in illustrations of children's books. I don't anticipate that art critics will rank him with Dali or French. Nevertheless, I believe that many adults will enjoy this well-produced book. Paintings such as "Ladies of the Lake" or "New Moon Eclipsed" suggest a backstory, a narrative depth left implicit, that I expect will engage the imagination of many readers of all ages. Some of the qualities of Surrealism in painting, and in literature of Latin American Magic Realism and Tolkien's "Subcreation," are captured here. Young readers are quite able to appreciate such things; this book is an appropriate gift for children of primary-school age. There is a companion volume, _Imagine a Day_, to which the above comments (minus the word "nocturnal" and the names of individual paintings) apply equally.
07 December 2007
A Close Call for Western Civilization
James Chambers has given us a well-written account of the Mongol assault on Europe in the thirteenth century. Intended for the general reader, this book could use more reference footnotes for those who wish to pursue the topic further; where I could check the facts, they accorded with current scholarship, but in a number of instances there was no reference, and the sources would have been difficult to find.
Otherwise I found the narrative clear and balanced. The events recounted here were as dramatic as history gets: Christendom got the scare of its life. First Kievan Rus' (whose princes needlessly began the war that led to several centuries of the "Tatar Yoke"), and then the nations of central Europe, found themselves in conflict with an enemy from some unknown land, whose military technology and organization were far superior to theirs. The finest armies of Europe met with disaster on the battlefield. In the end, Western civilization was lucky; it would have been a lot worse if events a continent away had not distracted the Mongols, who did indeed seem to be the Devil's own horsemen.
The Mongols, of course, had their own perspective, and the historian seeks not to demonize but to understand them. James Chambers tells us why and how they conquered the largest empire (in area) ever. History buffs should enjoy learning about it from this lively introduction to a fascinating episode, still unknown or poorly understood by most of us.