Garbo Laughs (2003)

by Elizabeth Hay

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173	3	64,146	(3.22)	8

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Showing 3 of 3

This book didn't hang together; I found the prose overwritten, with too many plot strands that didn't knit together.

rhondagrantham | Aug 14, 2010 |

I have to say, I'm a bit sad I didn't enjoy this book more. The story in itself was a great concept, but I did not enjoy the way it was written.

The author seems to be clumsy with her writing, stumbling through small plot lines, and quite a few times I was left confused about why she had written a certain phrase, or why she had a certain character say something.

Also, for me at least, it's not until towards the end of the book that you feel you know the characters well enough. Several times towards the middle of the story, I couldn't figure out why the author had put characters into a plot line, when we didn't know the characters well enough to understand it.

Overall, I enjoyed the concept more then the book, so I give it 3 stars. (

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TattooedPixie | Nov 11, 2009 |

A very entertaining read! (

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rmbarker | Jul 19, 2008 |

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Series (with order)

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2003

People/Characters

Important places

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Governor General's Literary Award Finalist (Fiction, 2003)

Epigraph

We will never know the extent of the damage movies are doing to us. -Pauline Kael

Dedication

To Bella Pomer, with affection and gratitude

First words

Kenny lay awake in the smallest room in the house.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

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▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

A funny and sad-eyed novel about a woman caught in a tug of war between real love and movie love-and real love doesn't stand a chance. Set in Ottawa in the 1990's it is the quixotic tale of tall, thin Harriet Browning, inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. Bent on seeing everything she missed, she rapidly becomes so saturated with old movies, seen repeatedly and swallowed whole, that she no longer fits into the real world. Equally addicted are her three companions-of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra, a girl with Bette Davis eyes, and an earthy sidekick named after Dinah Shore. Breaking in upon this quiet backwater, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood, the jaded widow of a famous screenwriter and her movie-expert stepson. They are Harsh Reality, who bring blackouts, arguments, accidents, illness and sudden death. But what chance does real life stand when we can watch movies instead? What hope does real love have when movie love, in all its brief intensity, is an easy option? (from book jacket)

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"Set in Ottawa in the 1990s, it is the quixotic tale of tall, thin Harriet Browning, inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. Bent on seeing everything she has missed, she rapidly becomes so saturated with old movies, seen repeatedly and swallowed whole, that she no longer fits into the real world. Equally addicted are her three companions-of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra, a girl with Bette Davis eyes, and an earthly sidekick named after Dinah Shore. Breaking in upon this quiet backwater, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood, the jaded widow of a famous screenwriter and her movie-expert stepson. They are Harsh Reality, who bring blackouts, arguments, accidents, illness and sudden death. But what chance does real life stand when we can watch movies instead? What hope does real love have when movie love, in all its brief intensity, is an easy option? In this brilliant and poignant comedy of secondhand desire, movies and movie lovers come first."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)