Cheat and Charmer : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Well written and engrossing
Review: Elizabeth Frank is a superb writer. Yes, the plot lines are a little soap opera like, as other reviewers mentioned, but that only highlights Frank's ability to turn predictable events into fascinating commentary on adult life. Her insights are fresh and her details delicious. I was so sad to see this novel end. It took twenty five years to write - I'll be too old to read her next novel! I'm tired of Hollywood stories and yet I found Cheat and Charmer to be a true star.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificently engrossing novel, finest kind
Review: Entirely involving, entertaining and nuanced (that's the new adjective, right?) novel about Hollywood (woo-hoo) during the HUAC witchhunt. Some might call this book a soap-opera but, would that be so bad? Most everything the revered Faulkner wrote is not only soap opera but, gasp, Southern Gothic Soap Opera. LOVED this book which brings back to public consciousness a black period for the U.S. and for democracy and discusses it with a grey palette. Wonderful, exquisite, consuming reading. Well written, with very knowing eye and irony; it's a DO-NOT-MISS-BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: So good!
Review: I bought this book because the cover and reviews looked intriguing. I was not disappointed. I immediately was drawn into this world of secret Communist gatherings and flashy Hollywood soirees. The characters were definitely memorable, though not alway likable. In fact, I found myself wanting to learn more about them even them I believed them to be morally repugnant. Elizabeth Frank is a wonderful storyteller. I'd read anything else she'd write! I highly recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: A fun Hollywood trasher
Review: Jaqueline Susann has met her match! Reading books like this is one of those guilty pleasures that I have to confess to. And Frank knows her stuff... I felt that this was probably a roman a clef, but even without the clef in hand, the book is hugely entertaining (though it does bog down just a bit by the time you get to page 400). And the characters are, for the most part, so thoroughly unsympathetic that you can read about the disasters that befall them with perfect equanimity.

Rating:
Summary: Screwball, Satire and Tragedy
Review: This book is both hilarious, moving, sad and satirical. Elizabeth Frank is an amazing story teller like the early Phillip Roth and sometimes like IB Singer. The characters in this book are conflicted, ambitious eccentric citizens of Hollywood. Who new that such complexity lies in the hearts and minds of the residents of Beverly Hills. The blacklist of 1950s America turns the life of this particular family, the Laskers, into chaos. The characters are fully alive with humor and broken hearts. The philandering husband, Jake can't resist sexual liasons and pastrami sandwiches in the middle of the night. Their kids Lorna and Peter remind me of Scout and Gem in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' learning all about growing up, not among the poor and opressed, but among loneliness, neglect and the painful criticism of grown-ups. They have no Atticus Finch. But they have an amazing and imperfect mother, Dinah, who does testify before the HUAC to save her family while she is still able to demonstrate tremendous integrity in life. Dinah's rivalry with her gorgeous sister, Veevee grows more complicated and divisive as bothwomen grow older looking back at the folly of their former political involvement with 'The Party.' There are other great charcters and details in this book that one can only know as a reader. It is a beautifully observed story of a certain time and place. AM Weiss


Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Fiction
Review: with deeply nuanced characters who are not espcially likeable. The thing I loved about this book is that there are no easy answers. All of these characters make choices that have long reaching results. If you believe that ethics are situational; that choices are neither morally good or bad (in and of themselves), this book will make you pause. The author does an outstanding job of showing the emotional consequences of seemingly simple choices. The history of LA in the 50s (I lived it), the blacklist and the movie business all ring true. This is one of the best books I have read this year. I literally read it in a 24 hour period and was sad to see it end.