Leah Stewart

Very entertaining, though it starts a little slow -- there is a density of detail, but it's needed later. The pace definitely picks up as you start to care about the characters and see the path they are on. The omniscient narrator gives us everything - the characters' inner thoughts and feelings, their pasts, their futures, all in little snippets, revealed at just the right time. The main characters are Hollywood movie stars: Charlie Outlaw is a sitcom rising star who has just given an show more honest, but damning interview that has ruined his professional and personal life with actress Josie Lamar, not quite washed-up, but a superstar in a fandom cultish show in her youth called Alter Ego. Charlie has gone off the grid to a remote island to hike and heal, and Josie tries to move on with her life, doing bit parts and taking auditions and riding off the lasting wave of fame and fan conventions. She is trying to decide if she should engage in a relationship with her former co-star, but truthfully, just wants to get back together with Charlie. He has not responded to her texts or posted on social media and Josie begins to worry, and here things take a Hollywood turn: Charlie has been kidnapped by native islanders who are protesting the incursion of a fancy resort. What Stewart does amazingly well is humanize actors - her powers of observation and perception about the nature of stardom and fame and the inability to simply be "normal" because they are so used to acting and occupying a persona give this book a whole depth beyond the engaging plot. Once Josie figures out Charlie's silence means he is in danger, she channels her former bad-ass character role to take action and to come to his rescue. Some of those insightful reflections in the midst of action include: "People mistake irony for disdain, but how without irony's blessed distance, could you avoid succumbing to every one of your raw and tearful yearnings, every ridiculous thing you feel?" (8) "People think they are asking for the truth, but what they want to hear is a different kind of fiction." (100) "It's a funny thing how people will say I love you to a stranger [actor] more readily than a person they actually know. What kind of love is it that can be offered up so freely? Who is it they love? Their love exists at the intersection of real and not real, like the performance that made them feel it." (127). This book has humor, wit, empathy, and a great deal of intelligence and has made me re-think the stereotype of "shallow" actors and has given me a deep appreciation of "deep" writers. Will definitely seek out more of her work! show less

Not a "big" novel, but nearly flawless. At 28, Eloise leaves her new job as a Harvard professor to move back to Cincinnati to care for her sister's three children. Once the children are grown, Eloise has to decide if her life is there or elsewhere.

Each of the three grown children, but especially Theo (Theodora) and Josh, are interesting, realistic twenty-somethings, and the sibling dynamics are both close and imperfect, as the three test the roles they have always assumed.

Each character is show more forced to consider the themes of Eloise's second book-in-progress: location and identity. They face decisions about career and relationships; their struggles are realistic without any manufactured high drama.

"I mean, you're yourself in every place, of course, but some places bring out a better version. Or maybe not better. Maybe just the version that feels right." (Eloise, 361) show less

The book begins with Eloise Hempel reveling in her life as a successfully published, Harvard Professor. She can hardly believe that she has achieved this dream. Her life is shattered with one phone call from her niece - her sister and brother in law have died on vacation and Eloise's mother is, well a useless piece of blubber unable to care for her three grandchildren. When Eloise arrives her mother, Francine basically decamps saying she can't handle things and leaves Eloise with the show more children. The eldest, Theo is afraid of leaving her grandmother's house so Eloise gives up everything she worked for to rear the children in her mother's monstrosity of a house in Cincinnati.

The book then jumps in time to the children's adulthood. They have all received excellent educations and each one has a talent that Eloise has let fly. The children themselves though (if you ask me) are a bunch of entitled, whining, spoiled brats. Eloise is far from perfect but she never set out to be a mother and these kids are all about me, me, me. I had serious problems on a number of levels with this book the biggest one being there not being one likable character. It's hard to invest in a book when you really don't care about anyone in it. But the book did evoke strong emotions in that I wanted to scream at these kids because they didn't realize how good they had it; yes their parents died but they had someone who took rather good care of them and they weren't cold, starving or lacking for anything.

*sigh*

Books about this generation about drive me batty. Can you tell? I guess that perhaps I am just too old and I'll leave it at that.

The writing is good which is the only reason I finished the book. I don't know if the author was intentionally keeping her characters stupid or blind to what was going on around them or the reader was just supposed to ignore that a woman studying for her post graduate degree (Theo, the eldest) had no concept of what it cost to run a big house in the city or to educate three children. Or that any of the kids understood the money involved in their upbringing. Or that none of them could figure out the romantic status of their aunt. Seriously - are they THAT self involved? If this is truly how this generation is being raised I'm glad I'm old. OK - I suppose I should rant in a book review....

The characters ARE very well developed and there is a strong plot. This just was not a book for me.

Rating: show less

This book was a surprisingly deep look at the tribulations of love and loss and stardom. Both Charlie and Josie are wonderful characters – you can’t help but cheer for them as the story progresses. The writing was vibrant and evocative, and the author skillfully portrayed the perils of both kidnapping and fame without judgement and without minimizing the impact of either. I was pulled into the story from the very first pages and stayed up late to finish because I just couldn’t bear to show more put it down. Highly recommended! show less