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colleenlovestoread's review against another edition
4.0
Find my full review at http://aliteraryvacation.blogspot.com.
Ah, the glitz and glamour of tinseltown! Who doesn't love the exquisite costumes and makeup, lavish set designs and larger than life personalities of the golden age of Hollywood? I've spent many an hour curled up watching old black and white movies, marveling at the splendor on the screen and own a copy of Gone with the Wind - my favorite movie of all time - in every possible format I can get my hands on so I always have it ready to watch wherever I am. But given this perfection and the powerful emotions drawing the performers together, what happened when the cameras stopped rolling and real-life began? All the Stars in the Heavens tackles not only the beauty of Hollywood during this magical time but the very real and very flawed people who inhabited it.
The story is told in the third person and jumps relatively rapidly from one person's perspective to the other. While this could be confusing at times, once I got used to it I found it a wonderful way to see inside the lives and heads of a large number of players. While the bulk of the focus is on Loretta Young and her secretary, Alda Ducci, the reader also sees into the hearts of a host of other characters, including some pretty famous names such as David Niven, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. These characters in particular, along with Loretta's mother, sisters and a few others, are wonderfully developed and the dialogue between them is brilliant and witty and feels right out of one of those wonderful movies these people inhabited. There are a number of other high profile names sprinkled throughout this hefty story that seem more used for background development and name dropping than to actually showcase the people behind the names, but the main characters are all developed into incredibly real, flawed people. And oh how flawed they are!
I find it amazing that Adriana Trigiani was able to give me these characters with some serious imperfections in personality and still make me love them. The men are especially selfish and unfaithful - I can't think of one male character, save a few priests, that didn't in fact cheat on the women they were romantically involved with - but somehow their humor, caring hearts and/or their dedication to their careers make them endearing even when you know they are not the type of men any woman would want to marry. The women have their own lapses in judgement and many seem to trade partners and husbands like they might dresses, but their love for family, passions and even religion seemed to shine through the muck they made in their personal lives to make them very real and very endearing. This would include the big "secret" Loretta keeps from most everyone for more years than seems possible and that Alda helps her orchestrate. While I can't say I agree with many of the choices she made her heart was clearly in the right place and she did the best she could given her experiences and the times she lived in.
On top of the wonderful characters, my favorite aspect of All the Stars in the Heavens would have to be the great attention and detail given to the development of the settings. Every small detail that went into the making of a movie - from painting and rigging the settings, dressing and making up the stars, filming on locations on and off lots, negotiating contracts, press junkets and fans, and so much more - are shown to the reader so it is impossible to not feel completely enmeshed in the process. The homes and locations, from Italy to California to a snow-covered mountain in Washington State, are all perfectly presented so the reader can see it all right before them.
This is the first novel I've read by Adriana Trigiani and I am so glad I started with this one. While there might be almost too much development of the many characters and settings throughout this epic novel, it is all and all a wonderful immersion into a particularly fascinating time and place in American history and culture. I not only feel like I was presented with a wonderful story but a better understanding of what it took to make a movie at the dawn of modern cinema. With as much attention as was given to the many people involved I very much wish the author had included a detailed author note at the end of the novel to help me navigate what portions and people are true to history and what was created to advance the story. Even without this I am now ready to delve even further into the history of this golden age in movies and I look forward to reading more by the author as well.
Ah, the glitz and glamour of tinseltown! Who doesn't love the exquisite costumes and makeup, lavish set designs and larger than life personalities of the golden age of Hollywood? I've spent many an hour curled up watching old black and white movies, marveling at the splendor on the screen and own a copy of Gone with the Wind - my favorite movie of all time - in every possible format I can get my hands on so I always have it ready to watch wherever I am. But given this perfection and the powerful emotions drawing the performers together, what happened when the cameras stopped rolling and real-life began? All the Stars in the Heavens tackles not only the beauty of Hollywood during this magical time but the very real and very flawed people who inhabited it.
The story is told in the third person and jumps relatively rapidly from one person's perspective to the other. While this could be confusing at times, once I got used to it I found it a wonderful way to see inside the lives and heads of a large number of players. While the bulk of the focus is on Loretta Young and her secretary, Alda Ducci, the reader also sees into the hearts of a host of other characters, including some pretty famous names such as David Niven, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. These characters in particular, along with Loretta's mother, sisters and a few others, are wonderfully developed and the dialogue between them is brilliant and witty and feels right out of one of those wonderful movies these people inhabited. There are a number of other high profile names sprinkled throughout this hefty story that seem more used for background development and name dropping than to actually showcase the people behind the names, but the main characters are all developed into incredibly real, flawed people. And oh how flawed they are!
I find it amazing that Adriana Trigiani was able to give me these characters with some serious imperfections in personality and still make me love them. The men are especially selfish and unfaithful - I can't think of one male character, save a few priests, that didn't in fact cheat on the women they were romantically involved with - but somehow their humor, caring hearts and/or their dedication to their careers make them endearing even when you know they are not the type of men any woman would want to marry. The women have their own lapses in judgement and many seem to trade partners and husbands like they might dresses, but their love for family, passions and even religion seemed to shine through the muck they made in their personal lives to make them very real and very endearing. This would include the big "secret" Loretta keeps from most everyone for more years than seems possible and that Alda helps her orchestrate. While I can't say I agree with many of the choices she made her heart was clearly in the right place and she did the best she could given her experiences and the times she lived in.
On top of the wonderful characters, my favorite aspect of All the Stars in the Heavens would have to be the great attention and detail given to the development of the settings. Every small detail that went into the making of a movie - from painting and rigging the settings, dressing and making up the stars, filming on locations on and off lots, negotiating contracts, press junkets and fans, and so much more - are shown to the reader so it is impossible to not feel completely enmeshed in the process. The homes and locations, from Italy to California to a snow-covered mountain in Washington State, are all perfectly presented so the reader can see it all right before them.
This is the first novel I've read by Adriana Trigiani and I am so glad I started with this one. While there might be almost too much development of the many characters and settings throughout this epic novel, it is all and all a wonderful immersion into a particularly fascinating time and place in American history and culture. I not only feel like I was presented with a wonderful story but a better understanding of what it took to make a movie at the dawn of modern cinema. With as much attention as was given to the many people involved I very much wish the author had included a detailed author note at the end of the novel to help me navigate what portions and people are true to history and what was created to advance the story. Even without this I am now ready to delve even further into the history of this golden age in movies and I look forward to reading more by the author as well.
sarahkgg's review against another edition
3.0
Our local library is really great at enticing you into opening books that you might not have ever noticed. For example, I am always a sucker for the display shelf called "While You're Waiting." I appreciate this little set-up because 1) I like that the library acknowledges that there are "hot" books that everyone* wants to read so you will be waiting a long-ace time for the book you really want. (#sorrynotsorry) and 2) some wonderful kindred soul has spent time actively thinking about what makes the hot book hot and picked lesser known books that check the same boxes.
Librarians and book worms are wonderful human beings.
I think this book was listed as a Read Alike for "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert which I have no interest in at all. However, I was super-interested by the fictionalization of the true story of Clark Gable's secret love child. Excellent - onward with illicit affairs and their consequences!
While I enjoyed the story overall, it felt a little moralistic, probably because our leading lady, Loretta Young, and her assistant were devoutly Catholic. This contrasted nicely with Mr. Gable's incredibly loose interpretation of his marriage vows.
The pacing of the story was slow; the first half of the book covered a span of two months, but the entire second half of the book spanned 40 years. It was weird, though, because even though the second part of the book seemingly sped through decades, it still felt really slow.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and am hoping to find "The Call of Wild" (which is the whole jumping-off point for the book) on TV or Netflix. It's 101 today, and I would like to imagine myself in a blizzard.
* In this case "everyone" means book people.
Librarians and book worms are wonderful human beings.
I think this book was listed as a Read Alike for "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert which I have no interest in at all. However, I was super-interested by the fictionalization of the true story of Clark Gable's secret love child. Excellent - onward with illicit affairs and their consequences!
While I enjoyed the story overall, it felt a little moralistic, probably because our leading lady, Loretta Young, and her assistant were devoutly Catholic. This contrasted nicely with Mr. Gable's incredibly loose interpretation of his marriage vows.
The pacing of the story was slow; the first half of the book covered a span of two months, but the entire second half of the book spanned 40 years. It was weird, though, because even though the second part of the book seemingly sped through decades, it still felt really slow.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and am hoping to find "The Call of Wild" (which is the whole jumping-off point for the book) on TV or Netflix. It's 101 today, and I would like to imagine myself in a blizzard.
* In this case "everyone" means book people.
lauren82's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book so much, such a great story! I want to watch all the movies now that were mentioned in the book
croote7's review against another edition
2.0
Not sure what to think about making a romance out of a case of date rape, but, other than that, it was entertaining. I spent a lot of time looking into the characters real lives and learned a lot about them.
janerel's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it! It's like a biography of Loretta Young, Hollywood starlet from the 1930s/40s, but written as a fictional novel. I loved reading about the life of this star, whom I knew nothing about, including her loves, movies and family. A one-time love of Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy, her life is detailed in a beautiful story in All the Stars in the Heavens. Loretta's special relationship with Alda, her assistant, carries through from the start right to the end of the book. I found myself Googling Loretta to see what was true and what she looked like. A very enjoyable book. Thank you to Good Reading Magazine for this copy.
reviewsbylola's review
4.0
3.5 stars
I am not a big movie buff, but ever since seeing Gone With the Wind, I have had a thing for Clark Gable. Never mind that that is the only movie of his I have ever seen. I love legitimately love him. So when I heard about this book, which is a fictionalized account of his love affair and secret love child with Loretta Young, I had to read it. I love historical fiction that is based on true events and real people from history.
Going into this book, I knew a fair bit about Gable's personal life. Married quite a few times, dying when his (I think was) fifth wife was pregnant with his first child in 1960. Apparently though that wasn't his first child.
In 1935, 21 year old Loretta Young met the older Gable on the secluded set of The Call of the Wild. Stuck together in a hotel on site for weeks on end, the naïve Loretta and the womanizer Gable fell in love. Their affair was brief, and they went in different directions once the film was wrapped. Loretta continued to pine after Gable, and then she found out she was pregnant. Unable to make their relationship work due to their egos (some may find this to be harsh as far as Loretta goes, but going solely off the book, I definitely think she could have done things differently), Loretta secretly gave birth to their daughter Judy and fought for years to keep Judy's parentage a secret.
The idea of two film stars having an illegitimate child in 1935 is almost unheard of. It would have destroyed Loretta's career, not to mention the ramifications on the two actors considering they both signed "morality clauses". Loretta instead hid Judy at an orphanage for years, eventually "adopting" her.
I loved the idea of this book. The story had so much potential. On the one hand, I do think Trigiani did a great job of bringing the characters to light. I actually read another fictionalized account of Gable a year or two ago, about his marriage to Carole Lombard, that I felt was pretty poorly done in terms of fleshing out the characters. All the Stars in the Heavens didn't have that problem, however I did feel that it should have been more focused. Trigiani chose to start the book prior to Gable and Loretta meeting, when Loretta was falling in love with Spencer Tracy. It then meandered all the way to Judy's adulthood. There was a lot of jumping around towards the end and the direction seemed confusing. I think Trigiani should have chosen to just write about the love affair and Judy's first few years. It would have made the story seemed much more cohesive and refined.
I found it interesting that Loretta's daughter in law came out after her death and claimed that Gable actually date raped Loretta, resulting in her pregnancy. Obviously that puts an entirely different spin on the circumstances of Judy's conception and birth, and it made me wonder what the true story is. Either way, I truly admire Loretta Young. She had a few options open to her, and she took what was arguably the hardest road, despite the ramifications on her professional and even personal life. It could not have been easy.
I am not a big movie buff, but ever since seeing Gone With the Wind, I have had a thing for Clark Gable. Never mind that that is the only movie of his I have ever seen. I love legitimately love him. So when I heard about this book, which is a fictionalized account of his love affair and secret love child with Loretta Young, I had to read it. I love historical fiction that is based on true events and real people from history.
Going into this book, I knew a fair bit about Gable's personal life. Married quite a few times, dying when his (I think was) fifth wife was pregnant with his first child in 1960. Apparently though that wasn't his first child.
In 1935, 21 year old Loretta Young met the older Gable on the secluded set of The Call of the Wild. Stuck together in a hotel on site for weeks on end, the naïve Loretta and the womanizer Gable fell in love. Their affair was brief, and they went in different directions once the film was wrapped. Loretta continued to pine after Gable, and then she found out she was pregnant. Unable to make their relationship work due to their egos (some may find this to be harsh as far as Loretta goes, but going solely off the book, I definitely think she could have done things differently), Loretta secretly gave birth to their daughter Judy and fought for years to keep Judy's parentage a secret.
The idea of two film stars having an illegitimate child in 1935 is almost unheard of. It would have destroyed Loretta's career, not to mention the ramifications on the two actors considering they both signed "morality clauses". Loretta instead hid Judy at an orphanage for years, eventually "adopting" her.
I loved the idea of this book. The story had so much potential. On the one hand, I do think Trigiani did a great job of bringing the characters to light. I actually read another fictionalized account of Gable a year or two ago, about his marriage to Carole Lombard, that I felt was pretty poorly done in terms of fleshing out the characters. All the Stars in the Heavens didn't have that problem, however I did feel that it should have been more focused. Trigiani chose to start the book prior to Gable and Loretta meeting, when Loretta was falling in love with Spencer Tracy. It then meandered all the way to Judy's adulthood. There was a lot of jumping around towards the end and the direction seemed confusing. I think Trigiani should have chosen to just write about the love affair and Judy's first few years. It would have made the story seemed much more cohesive and refined.
I found it interesting that Loretta's daughter in law came out after her death and claimed that Gable actually date raped Loretta, resulting in her pregnancy. Obviously that puts an entirely different spin on the circumstances of Judy's conception and birth, and it made me wonder what the true story is. Either way, I truly admire Loretta Young. She had a few options open to her, and she took what was arguably the hardest road, despite the ramifications on her professional and even personal life. It could not have been easy.
margardenlady's review against another edition
2.0
This oddly stilted biopic of Loretta Youngs' career was odd. It chronicled her career and affair with Gable, but also told the story of her secretary, Alda Ducci Chetta. Alda becomes a mainstay of the life of Young and through her eyes and wisdom, we see the changes in Hollywood through and following the golden age of movies. This has none of the lovely characters and charming storytelling of the other Trigiani books I've read.
hayleyshortcake's review against another edition
1.0
I'm counting this as read because I struggled through half of this book before giving up,utterly dull.