The Stars in Her Eyes; the Band around Her Throat
Any novel that can bring in “The Littlest Mermaid”, “The Red Shoes”, “The Ballad of Tam Lin” and the Wild Hunt piques my interest and this one doesn't disappoint.
This story haunts, mesmerizes and sears with its depiction of an alternative Hollywood, a world in which lives are bought, sold, enslaved, crafted and molded through sorcerous means. A young girl gets drawn in with her very first film and makes literal sacrifices to see the ephemera that are silent screen greats.
There is beauty here, beauty that makes the ordinary world seem drab, dull and miserable. You understand Sissy’s desire to escape the mundane and recognize the all-consuming hunger that is barely hinted at in these opening pages. Even in these early days of her film career, we sense the rapacity that will grow to take her into a spotlight she craves while simultaneously forcing her down seamy pathways.
This book subverts the notion of movie magic by making it factual and casting its darker aspects in magical terms. This tale of an enchanted Hollywood and its desperate denizens is something special and will prowl through one’s mind like a ghostly specter long after the final page is turned.
This story haunts, mesmerizes and sears with its depiction of an alternative Hollywood, a world in which lives are bought, sold, enslaved, crafted and molded through sorcerous means. A young girl gets drawn in with her very first film and makes literal sacrifices to see the ephemera that are silent screen greats.
There is beauty here, beauty that makes the ordinary world seem drab, dull and miserable. You understand Sissy’s desire to escape the mundane and recognize the all-consuming hunger that is barely hinted at in these opening pages. Even in these early days of her film career, we sense the rapacity that will grow to take her into a spotlight she craves while simultaneously forcing her down seamy pathways.
This book subverts the notion of movie magic by making it factual and casting its darker aspects in magical terms. This tale of an enchanted Hollywood and its desperate denizens is something special and will prowl through one’s mind like a ghostly specter long after the final page is turned.