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Rating: 
Summary: Kaplow's wonderful lullaby
Review: (...) Robert Kaplow's Me and Orson Welles is not a coming of age story. It's a Manhattan tale of an age that slipped through our fingers. A Times Square that only exists in the memory of old Broadway troopers, colored in with characters straight from the files of a dozen or so New York newspapers that have met their own expiration dates. But this book, the story of how Richard Samuels, a New Jersey teenager manages to brass his way into Orson Welles' avant garde 1937 production of Julius Caesar and then survive for seven full days is every bit the Broadway tale. Come along and listen to Kaplow's lullaby of Broadway as seen through Richie Samuels's eyes. This is the Broadway that Damon Runyon wrote about in "Guys and Dolls". And while Richie is working his bit part with the great Orson Welles, you can be sure that not far away, Sammy Glick from Budd Shulberg's What Makes Sammy Run? is conning his way from copyboy to Hollywood. It might seem a bit unorthodox to mention Runyon or Shulberg's classics but author Robert Kaplow has recreated the Manhattan they described so superbly and then dropped Richie Samuels right into it. This author is masters of subtext because you know what the major characters like Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton and John Houseman will go on to do in later years. We, the readers, know the secret and we relish in it every bit as much as Walter Winchell might bark, "Wynta gimmee a few words?" This is young Richie Samuels, who knows everything there is to know about the theatre, names of all the greats and the shows in which they appeared as well as the songs they sang. This is young Richie Samuels slickly conning his way out of high school classes to be at rehearsals where Welles thunders across the stage, raging at John Houseman who is slowly losing his mind to keep the star happy and productive. And as much as Richie Samuels believes he can learn from Orson Welles, we can forsee the future that he can't possibly know. We can see Welles frightening the country with his 1938 radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" while further down the career path, "Citizen Kane" is just dying to be lifted from the dark heart of William Randolph Hearst. We can almost imagine Richie, many years later, turning on his television set to find a much heavier Welles in his famed wine commercials. With all that said, this is Richie Samuels's week. The seven days in his life where he coldly makes the decisions that place him onto a career path. That's one reason this is not a coming of age story. Richie knows exactly what he is going to do. He never blunders into it. He is determined to stay on the stage with Welles and if that means lying to his parents, getting other kids at school to lie for him so he can cut classes and generally just obscure his Manhattan melodrama until he's ready to spring it on friends and family, he's very up to the challenge. Naturally, Richie's momentum stumbles a bit when falls in love with Sonja, an enigmatic beauty that every man in the cast wants to bed. Just the scent of her walking by Richie and Joseph Cotton launches the two men into a sex talk that sounds more like father and son than a laundry list of conquests. He learns the softness of love from Sonja while absorbing the power of an actor coming into bloom from Welles. The chemistry of these two merging within Richie, during the seven days he worked at the Mercury Theatre on West Forty-first Street, bring him the strength to face Welles when he realizes that the star can be unduly cruel to the people around him. Robert Kaplow's, Me and Orson Welles is a story that we'd fully expect to see on the screen. It's the powerful type of story that HBO does so well. And, it's a lot of fun! Pick up a copy and turn some pages.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: I met Mr. Robert Kaplow at one of the book signings. I was pushing my books and he was working on his. Frankly, we were not too busy. We talked, we joked, we laughed a little but there was still no waiting line at our table. So, we mostly enjoyed our own company. At the end we decided to exchange books. Mr. Kaplow gave me his "Me and Orson Welles" and I gave him mine "Miles of Experience". Our autographs were proudly attached to the books. We promised to each to read these books and to express our opinions. I am keeping my word. I read this wonderful book and I enjoyed it tremendously. "Me and Orson Welles" is masterfully written, full of very healthy humor and strong characters. Frankly, I could not put it down and I read a few books before. I hope readers of this review would understand that I do not want to tell you the plot or to discuss it. I want you to read this book and to enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING
Review: I met Mr. Robert Kaplow at one of the book signings. I was pushing my books and he was working on his. Frankly, we were not too busy. We talked, we joked, we laughed a little but there was still no waiting line at our table. So, we mostly enjoyed our own company. At the end we decided to exchange books. Mr. Kaplow gave me his "Me and Orson Welles" and I gave him mine "Miles of Experience". Our autographs were proudly attached to the books. We promised to each to read these books and to express our opinions. I am keeping my word. I read this wonderful book and I enjoyed it tremendously. "Me and Orson Welles" is masterfully written, full of very healthy humor and strong characters. Frankly, I could not put it down and I read a few books before. I hope readers of this review would understand that I do not want to tell you the plot or to discuss it. I want you to read this book and to enjoy it as much as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Richard is no Holden
Review: I picked up this book because a review on the back caught my eye. It described the main character, Richard Samuels, as a combination between Holden Caulfield and Huck Finn. Considering The Catcher in the Rye and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are two of my favorite books, I couldn't pass this one up. I really enjoy books of this genre (I am comparing it to Carter Beats the Devil or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) where modern authors revisit early 20th century events. Plotwise, this novel was great. It was exciting and well-paced, and the minor characters were well-developed and interesting. However, the reason I did not love the book is that Richard is probably the my least favorite character in literature. He is self-obsessed and pompous. He talks like the characters on Dawson's Creek talked; that is, at a level that his actions in no way reflect or support. He always seemed to know the right thing to say and somehow managed to charm everyone around him. To me, he seemed unrealistic, the kind of character an author wishes existed instead of one who really would. So, really, if Kaplow could have kept Richard within the bounds of reality for a seventeen-year-old, I would have enjoyed the book a lot more.
Rating:
Summary: Life, Love and Youth...Who Could Ask For More?
Review: I've read a lot of books recently, but I don't think there's one that can top "Me and Orson Welles" for the sheer pleasure it provided. This is a classic, wonderful, coming-of-age story, set in the New York City of 1937. Richard Samuels is a 17-year-old high school student with a big heart and big dreams. Through lucky happenstance, he lands a small part in "Julius Caesar," the opening Broadway production for the Mercury Theatre and its star, 22-year-old Orson Welles. I'm not a Welles scholar by any means, but have read several biographies of the man, and would say the outsized figure who strides through these pages rings true. Yet for all his manic genius, Welles never steals center stage from our hero, Richard, who we quickly learn has a greater soul, if perhaps a lesser talent. Joseph Cotten, John Houseman, Norman Lloyd and the other famous Mercury names come to life in the story as well. You will feel yourself in their midst, feel the great tensions leading up to that all-so-important opening night, revel in their triumphs, share in their disappointments. This will sound like a cliché, I know...but I laughed out loud (a lot); I came close to crying a couple of times; and I closed the book with a real sense of disappointment that it was over, but grateful to have recaptured a wonderful feel for that time in life when everything seems magical and new and anything seems to be possible.
Rating: 
Summary: Lights, Curtin, Action. . . .
Review: The novel is set in late 1930's New York City. The story covers a week in the life of Richard Samuels, a seventeen year old suburban high school student who, by chance, lands a role in a Broadway production of Julius Cesar - written by, produced by and starring Orson Welles. During an intense week of rehearsals, Richard encounters situations that help shape the charter he portrays in the play as well as the character he's building during adolescence. The story is told in first person narrative by Richard. The author's use of well paced, concise prose helped maintain my interest and sparked enough curiosity to keep me reading. The story and characters are highly dramatic. As Kaplow depicts the dynamics of putting on the play we learn how incredibly large egos and very low self-esteem work hand-in-had to achieve a theatric masterpiece. Those same factors result in a showdown between Orson and Richard that forces Richard to see clearly all that his idol and his love have plainly had on display. "Me and Orson Welles" was a good read. The book was recommended as a group read by a friend whose reading interests are quite different from mine. I suspect that those with a deeper interest in Orson Welles will experience the novel on a different level. The fact that I enjoyed it demonstrates what can be accomplished when an interesting story is combined with solid writing, well crafted charters and subtle humor. Although I wouldn't have picked it, I'm glad I read it. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: AWARD WINNER
Review: This book is for adults but would be a great read for older teens. It is set in 1937 New York, and Richard Samuels is a 17 year old who can't get any attention at school, least of all from girls. But that's ok, because Richard knows one day he'll be a famous actor. That day turns out to be very soon. Richard happens to meet a loud young man on the street named Orson Welles. Orson is a 22 year old mad genius about to direct Julius Caesar, and he casts Richard in his play. Quickly Richard becomes involved in the world of Broadway, with its beautiful young starlets, Orson brown-nosers, New Yorker critics, and torrid affairs. Richard ditches school to devote his all to the play and to Orson, who he idealizes. But Richard's dreams of fame and riches may come to a crashing halt as he discovers that being close to Orson Welles also means that you'll be run over by the bulldozer that is his ego. For any fan of Orson Welles or WWII era historical fiction, this is a short, fun novel about a what-if situation of a young boy's dreams of stardom alongside Orson Welles.
Rating:
Summary: Fun fiction about the young Mr. Welles
Review: This book is for adults but would be a great read for older teens. It is set in 1937 New York, and Richard Samuels is a 17 year old who can't get any attention at school, least of all from girls. But that's ok, because Richard knows one day he'll be a famous actor. That day turns out to be very soon. Richard happens to meet a loud young man on the street named Orson Welles. Orson is a 22 year old mad genius about to direct Julius Caesar, and he casts Richard in his play. Quickly Richard becomes involved in the world of Broadway, with its beautiful young starlets, Orson brown-nosers, New Yorker critics, and torrid affairs. Richard ditches school to devote his all to the play and to Orson, who he idealizes. But Richard's dreams of fame and riches may come to a crashing halt as he discovers that being close to Orson Welles also means that you'll be run over by the bulldozer that is his ego. For any fan of Orson Welles or WWII era historical fiction, this is a short, fun novel about a what-if situation of a young boy's dreams of stardom alongside Orson Welles.
Rating:
Summary: FUNNY, FASCINATING, AND ABSORBING
Review: This is a deeply absorbing and wonderfully funny novel that imagines Orson Welles at the beginning of his astonishing career and a young man's perilous collision with Mr. Welles' Size 61 Ego. It's extremely entertaining, and you really feel you are there on West 41st Street with the whole crew. A dazzling piece of sustained literary imagination.
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