Timothy Patrick

This satirical novella about Hollywood and the people who frequent this icon provides biting comments on the falseness and meanness of those "Hollywood" people. The book ends in a quasi-redemption, but a little too late. The format of this story bumps around in dialogue and setting and character development pass quickly away. I read authors that create intriguing stories rich in setting and character personality. After reading Death of a Movie Star, no character remains in my conscious show more awareness. The old starlet, Lenora Danmore reminds me Norma Desmond, in Sunset Boulevard; and as any can see, the names are very similar. Both Lenora and Norma need to acknowledge that their prime time has ended and now must fade to the side line. show less

In Tea Cups & Tiger Claws a Prospect Park, California family saga about greed and power, haves and have-nots is told along the lives of identical triplets born in 1916. Strange enough their parents decided to dispose one of them to the highest bidder. Of course this causes grief and jealousy, split up and reunite later in life. Whereas Dorthea is raised in a shabby village, she misses a lot, but not her ambition. Her sisters are denied having contact with her or even speak of her, though show more raised in a mansion of glamour and privilege up a hill.
The novel's divided in three parts: Sisters as the foundation, Cousins for the interaction as teenagers and Enemies for the unavoidable deadly power games. The omniscient narrator's point of view changes frequently between characters, which requires your close attention. The character development is good, and I felt engaged with them. What distracted me, especially after having wrestled through the first 2 parts, is the strange punctuation, and long - comma sliced sentences. An interesting plot packed in linguistic sub-top quality. show less