A Stranger in the Mirror
by Sidney Sheldon
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Toby Temple is a superstar, the world's funniest man. He gets any woman that he wants, but under the superstar image is a lonely man. Jill Castle is a sensuous starlet. She has a dark and mysterious past and has an ambition even greater than Toby's. Together they rule Hollywood.Tags
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Member Reviews
70s peak Sheldon writing a different type of story.
Our main protagonists are Toby and Jill, two run of the mill folks coming from humble beginnings giving it a go trying to make it in Hollywood. Toby makes it first and becomes and asshole the more popular he gets. Jill struggles longer, and when she does make it is so embittered at all the bad shit she endured to get there she's out to bust balls and have her revenge. Then these two damaged people meet and start a relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
If you like Sheldon, you'll dig this one.
Our main protagonists are Toby and Jill, two run of the mill folks coming from humble beginnings giving it a go trying to make it in Hollywood. Toby makes it first and becomes and asshole the more popular he gets. Jill struggles longer, and when she does make it is so embittered at all the bad shit she endured to get there she's out to bust balls and have her revenge. Then these two damaged people meet and start a relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
If you like Sheldon, you'll dig this one.
The story held my attention, even though I didn't particularly like the characters. This could only happen with a skilled writer like Sheldon, because why else waste time reading about people you couldn't care less about.
I didn't care that Toby found out fame wasn't all it's cracked up to be (just ask any star) and I didn't care about wronged Jill plotting her revenge (as if she were the only victim of casting couch and other assorted perverts) and I didn't care that they suffered tragic fates, but I read the whole book anyway.
I didn't care that Toby found out fame wasn't all it's cracked up to be (just ask any star) and I didn't care about wronged Jill plotting her revenge (as if she were the only victim of casting couch and other assorted perverts) and I didn't care that they suffered tragic fates, but I read the whole book anyway.
OMG Vacation reading at its best. This was my first Sidney Sheldon novel. My mother caught me reading it when I was too young, so I got licks, not that it stopped me, I just learned to hide better.
Didn't know about sex scenes in books before this, and they were hot! Barely knew about cursing, and some of the most vulgar words I've ever heard were in this novel.
So why do I recommend it, because it's my trashy favourite from my youth. I haven't re-read it in years, so I hope it stands the test of time.
It's as realistic as a soap opera thought, enjoy!
Didn't know about sex scenes in books before this, and they were hot! Barely knew about cursing, and some of the most vulgar words I've ever heard were in this novel.
So why do I recommend it, because it's my trashy favourite from my youth. I haven't re-read it in years, so I hope it stands the test of time.
It's as realistic as a soap opera thought, enjoy!
Toby Temple is a superstar, the world's funniest man. He gets any woman that he wants, but under the superstar image is a lonely man. Jill Castle is a sensuous starlet. She has a dark and mysterious past and has an ambition even greater than Toby's. Together they rule Hollywood.
I liked this book when I first read it but my tastes have so changed since that time that I'm sure I'd rate it closer to 2.5.
I liked this book when I first read it but my tastes have so changed since that time that I'm sure I'd rate it closer to 2.5.
the story of an egomaniacal Hollywood superstar, a ravishing, disillusioned ingenue, and the ruthless love that binds them together.
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Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers - Part II - 1940 - 1979
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Author Information
262+ Works 35,937 Members
Born in Chicago on February 11, 1917, Sidney Sheldon entered Northwestern University on a scholarship in 1935, but was soon forced to drop out due to the Depression. He went to Manhattan in hopes of becoming a songwriter, but decided to try the west coast where he was hired as a script reader by Universal Studios. He had managed to break into show more screenwriting on a modest basis when World War II broke out. After he was discharged from the Air Force for medical reasons, he began to write musicals and comedies for the New York stage. At the age of 25, he had three musicals playing on Broadway-- Merry Widow, Jackpot, and Dream with Music. He went on to win a Tony Award for the musical Redhead. Sheldon eventually returned to Hollywood and spent 12 years as a successful screenwriter at both MGM Studios and Paramount Pictures. His acclaim as a screenwriter was capped by the Oscar he won for the screenplay of The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer (1947). He wrote 25 films during his lifetime including Jumbo and Anything Goes. He won a Screen Writers Guild Award for best musical of the year for Easter Parade in 1948 and for Annie Get Your Gun in 1950. He also wrote and produced several successful television series, including The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie, and Hart to Hart. One of the world's best-selling writers, Sheldon decided to try writing a novel when he got an idea that he could not adapt to a play or a screenplay. His first novel, The Naked Face, won an Edgar for the best mystery novel of 1970. He wrote numerous novels during his lifetime including The Other Side of Midnight, Bloodline, Rage of Angels, If Tomorrow Comes, Windmills of the Gods, and Tell Me Your Dreams. He died on January 30, 2007. His title Sidney Sheldon's Angel of the Dark made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Ein Fremder im Spiegel
- Original title
- A stranger in the mirror
- Alternate titles
- Ein Fremder im Spiegel; A stranger in the mirror
- People/Characters
- Toby Temple; Jill Castle; Claude Dessard
- Related movies
- A Stranger in the Mirror (1993 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- If you would seek to find yourself
Look not in a mirror
For there is but a shadow there,
A stranger ....
~ Silenius,
Odes to Truth - First words
- On a Saturday morning in November in 1969, a series of bizarre and inexplicable events occurred aboard the fifty-five-thousand ton luxury liner S.S. Bretagne as it was preparing to sail from the Port of New York to Le Havre.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And the stars above, where it had all been written.
- Original language
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Reviews
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- ISBNs
- 81
- ASINs
- 19