Monday, June 04, 2012

2012 book 153

Emma Straub's Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures
This was a surprisingly moving story about a girl growing up in Wisconsin, where her family runs a summer theater program. After a family tragedy, she moves to California to try and make it as an actress in the Golden Age of Hollywood. The story follows her ups and downs as an actress--and her family ups and downs as well. Highly recommended for fans of literary fiction, historical fiction, books about movie stars, and fans of Anne Helen Petersen's awesome Hairpin series Scandals of Classic Hollywood. It also reminded me a little of Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar, which I only remember vaguely so that shouldn't be taken too seriously. Straub totally nails the LA atmosphere across the years, and Laura is a GREAT character--I'm hoping this will be a hit because I loved it. A.

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An e-galley was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.

1 comment:

Christina said...

I thought it was really beautifully written and I like your comparison to Anne-Helen Peterson's column! Right on.