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A review by amandasbookreview
Banished From Memory by Mary Sheeran
2.0
When I first received information about Banished From Memory by Mary Sheeran, it definitely piqued my interest. The book takes place in 1960 and introduces Dianna Fletcher, a 16-year-old actress. She comes from a whole family of actors and takes it very seriously. However, she has reached an age where she is too old for the child roles, but not quite mature enough for the young female roles. She is worried about being in the shadow of her family and losing her talent. However, not only that but it is a scary time due to the Blacklist. Fears of communism haunt the United States and when she does land a role, she and her fellow-co-worker, Bill Royce don’t get along. Everyone in Hollywood has secrets and will do anything to keep them from being exposed.
This book tackles so many interesting and important issues. Almost too many. I felt that it was trying to fit so much in that is almost smothers the reader. The 1960s is just the beginning of the end of classic Hollywood and I loved reading about so many famous names throughout the story. However, there are parts that become so confusing. I am a huge Disney buff and even though this famous family is fictional, she ties them to real events. For instance, Dianna discusses how Anne Foster (Dianna’s mother) is the voice of Sleeping Beauty, even though it was the lovely Mary Costa who voiced and sang the part of Princess Aurora. Dianna also mentions how she gets the title part of Pollyanna? If this is going to be about a fictional actress, the film should also be fictional. It just made things a little confusing.
The story was not as engaging as I hoped it would be. It is extremely dialogue-heavy, and mainly “he said, then she said” constantly. There was not a lot of emotion for me to connect to and it made the pace extremely slow. It also hinders the character development. While I do appreciate the author for tying the events to the 1960s and making the connection to today’s political climate and #MeToo movement, it just didn’t grab my attention. This is why I have to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Thank you to JKS Communications for a copy of this book!
This book tackles so many interesting and important issues. Almost too many. I felt that it was trying to fit so much in that is almost smothers the reader. The 1960s is just the beginning of the end of classic Hollywood and I loved reading about so many famous names throughout the story. However, there are parts that become so confusing. I am a huge Disney buff and even though this famous family is fictional, she ties them to real events. For instance, Dianna discusses how Anne Foster (Dianna’s mother) is the voice of Sleeping Beauty, even though it was the lovely Mary Costa who voiced and sang the part of Princess Aurora. Dianna also mentions how she gets the title part of Pollyanna? If this is going to be about a fictional actress, the film should also be fictional. It just made things a little confusing.
The story was not as engaging as I hoped it would be. It is extremely dialogue-heavy, and mainly “he said, then she said” constantly. There was not a lot of emotion for me to connect to and it made the pace extremely slow. It also hinders the character development. While I do appreciate the author for tying the events to the 1960s and making the connection to today’s political climate and #MeToo movement, it just didn’t grab my attention. This is why I have to rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.
Thank you to JKS Communications for a copy of this book!