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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Short novel about a beautiful woman seeking fame and success in Hollywood and all of the men that desire her.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just your classic mostly forgettable novel of not for a completely unforgettable ending.
slow-paced
A satire of the Hollywood age. An aspiring painter lands in Hollywood hoping to get inspiration. From there he meets a wide cast of characters that portray the outside losers of Tinsel Town: Hacky vaudevillians
80th book of 2020.
I found this to be far greater than [b:Miss Lonelyhearts|250041|Miss Lonelyhearts|Nathanael West|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569830048l/250041._SX50_.jpg|23680760], in story and writing. West is so economic, but sharp in his writing. There are a weird assortment of misfit characters in this: a dwarf, a cowboy, a theatric old man (He also noticed that Harry, like many actors, had very little back or top to his head. It was almost all face, like a mask, with deep furrows between the eyes, across the forehead and on either side of the nose and mouth, plowed there by years of broad grinning and heavy frowning) and even Homer Simpson.
The fact that one of the character is called Homer Simpson was quite distracting. I've never really watched The Simpsons, so Googled if the yellow Homer had anything to do with West's. I learnt several odd things that I'll share, not that it has anything to do with this novel. Skip to the next paragraph if you don't care about what I have to say about The Simpsons. Without further ado: the creator's of The Simpsons named the characters after his actual family members. His father was called Homer, his mother was called Marge and his sister was called Lisa. Bart, is simply "brat" muddled up. The surname though, some debate. Some people say it might well have come from this novel, others say that the Simpsons is a play on the "simpletons." So, after all of that, the answer is: no one knows. Sorry.
Jonathan Lethem said of this novel, "A sun-blazed Polaroid of its moment." That is very apt. LA - the outskirts of Hollywood, the rundown wannabe movie stars. Though published in 1939, this novel reminded me of something from the decade previous, with 20s-esque themes of disenchantment and disillusion (Between the sun, the lizard and the house, he was fairly well occupied. But whether he was happy or not it is hard to say. Probably he was neither, just as a plant is neither. He had memories to disturb him and a plant hasn't, but after the first bad night his memories were quiet).
An interesting read, lovely writing, and a powerful ending. To close my review, the awfully powerful paragraph on California, wistful of broken dreams, in California or not.
Where else could they go but California, the land of sunshine and oranges?
Once there, they discover that sunshine isn’t enough. They get tired of oranges, even of avocado pears and passion fruit. Nothing happens. They don't know what to do with their time. They haven't the mental equipment for leisure, the money nor the physical equipment for pleasure. Did they slave so long just to go to an occasional Iowa picnic? What else is there? They watch the waves come in at Venice. There wasn't any ocean where most of them came from, but after you've seen one wave, you've seen them all. The same is true of the airplanes at Glendale. If only a plane would crash once in a while so tat they could watch the passengers being consumed in a 'holocaust of flame,' as the newspapers put it. But the planes never crash.
Their boredom becomes more and more terrible. They realise that they’ve been tricked and burn with resentment. Every day of their lives they read newspapers and went to the movies. Both fed them on lynchings, murder, sex crimes, explosions, wrecks, love nests, fires, miracles, revolutions, wars. The daily diet made sophisticates of them. The sun is a joke. Oranges can’t titillate their jaded palates. Nothing can ever be violent enough to make taut their slack minds and bodies. They have been cheated and betrayed. They have slaved and saved for nothing.
I found this to be far greater than [b:Miss Lonelyhearts|250041|Miss Lonelyhearts|Nathanael West|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1569830048l/250041._SX50_.jpg|23680760], in story and writing. West is so economic, but sharp in his writing. There are a weird assortment of misfit characters in this: a dwarf, a cowboy, a theatric old man (He also noticed that Harry, like many actors, had very little back or top to his head. It was almost all face, like a mask, with deep furrows between the eyes, across the forehead and on either side of the nose and mouth, plowed there by years of broad grinning and heavy frowning) and even Homer Simpson.
The fact that one of the character is called Homer Simpson was quite distracting. I've never really watched The Simpsons, so Googled if the yellow Homer had anything to do with West's. I learnt several odd things that I'll share, not that it has anything to do with this novel. Skip to the next paragraph if you don't care about what I have to say about The Simpsons. Without further ado: the creator's of The Simpsons named the characters after his actual family members. His father was called Homer, his mother was called Marge and his sister was called Lisa. Bart, is simply "brat" muddled up. The surname though, some debate. Some people say it might well have come from this novel, others say that the Simpsons is a play on the "simpletons." So, after all of that, the answer is: no one knows. Sorry.
Jonathan Lethem said of this novel, "A sun-blazed Polaroid of its moment." That is very apt. LA - the outskirts of Hollywood, the rundown wannabe movie stars. Though published in 1939, this novel reminded me of something from the decade previous, with 20s-esque themes of disenchantment and disillusion (Between the sun, the lizard and the house, he was fairly well occupied. But whether he was happy or not it is hard to say. Probably he was neither, just as a plant is neither. He had memories to disturb him and a plant hasn't, but after the first bad night his memories were quiet).
An interesting read, lovely writing, and a powerful ending. To close my review, the awfully powerful paragraph on California, wistful of broken dreams, in California or not.
Where else could they go but California, the land of sunshine and oranges?
Once there, they discover that sunshine isn’t enough. They get tired of oranges, even of avocado pears and passion fruit. Nothing happens. They don't know what to do with their time. They haven't the mental equipment for leisure, the money nor the physical equipment for pleasure. Did they slave so long just to go to an occasional Iowa picnic? What else is there? They watch the waves come in at Venice. There wasn't any ocean where most of them came from, but after you've seen one wave, you've seen them all. The same is true of the airplanes at Glendale. If only a plane would crash once in a while so tat they could watch the passengers being consumed in a 'holocaust of flame,' as the newspapers put it. But the planes never crash.
Their boredom becomes more and more terrible. They realise that they’ve been tricked and burn with resentment. Every day of their lives they read newspapers and went to the movies. Both fed them on lynchings, murder, sex crimes, explosions, wrecks, love nests, fires, miracles, revolutions, wars. The daily diet made sophisticates of them. The sun is a joke. Oranges can’t titillate their jaded palates. Nothing can ever be violent enough to make taut their slack minds and bodies. They have been cheated and betrayed. They have slaved and saved for nothing.
I read this book as part of my book club. I had previously read this book in high school as required reading. I didn't love this book. The characters are pretty awful. The violence against women is scary.
challenging
slow-paced