Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Variety chief correspondent D'Addario debuts with an uninspired tale of five women campaigning to win best actress at the Academy Awards. The field is led by Adria Benedict, the grand dame of American cinema, who's anxious to protect that status. Challengers include Bitty Harbor, a secret alcoholic who's hot for her "Alpha-Hunk" costar in a film about Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson; Contessa Lyle, a Black former child star desperate to be taken seriously in her role as Laura in The Glass Menagerie; Davina Schwartz, an acclaimed London stage performer and star of a feminist take on Titus Andronicus, who feels like a fish out of water in Hollywood; and Jenny Van Meer, who has spent her career in Adria's shadow and hopes to come into her own with a Maria Callas biopic. In the run-up to the big night, these five stars cross paths on the awards circuit and are forced to deal with one another's secrets, insecurities, and jealousies. Unfortunately, the characters mostly feel two-dimensional, and the story is curiously devoid of drama. D'Addario channels the noise of Tinseltown, but not the glitter. Agent: Jessica Spitz, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Feb.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Five Hollywood actresses wriggle under the microscope of an awards season. This debut novel from longtimeVariety correspondent D'Addario opens with the reading of the Best Actress nominees during an awards show, rewinds to take each leading lady through the months of machinations and publicity leading up to that night, then circles back to a weirdly anticlimactic conclusion. To the author's credit, by then we can pretty easily keep the characters and their movies straight, possibly even better than in real life. Adria Benedict is the queen, already a three-time winner, something like Meryl Streep--though one hopes Meryl is more likable and less rigidly focused on her grand career. Her longtime rival, at least according to the media, is Jenny Van Meer, whose parallel career has gone conspicuously unawarded. Three younger actresses--a child star (comes with a momager), a smart British lesbian, and a beautiful drunk--complete the roster, and we keep track of a few also-rans, too, including a Black woman blocked by industry racism. There are photo shoots, magazine interviews, spin classes, meet-and-greets, and a lesser awards show, and all of it seems credible enough, if oddly unexciting, with each set-up for fireworks fizzling, sometimes offstage. Where are the scandals? The wardrobe failures? The paparazzi drama? D'Addario's objective seems to be to convince us that snakes in a barrel are people too, and perhaps that's not really the most fun that could have been had with these well-developed characters and premises. Some of the highlights of the book are the faux online columns and magazine articles slipped in along the way--perfectly snarky in their send-up of celebrity journalism. Elsewhere, earnestness prevails. Apparently, it's lonely at the top. Long on authenticity and sympathetic portrayals, a little short on pizzazz. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
