Talent and the Right Idea
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Mr. Grant does not get it quite right in his first work of fiction, but he definitely has the right idea. The zany way he turns nouns and adjectives into verbs - "entouraging", "headless chickening" and the like - perfectly captures life's absurdities. My vocabulary has already been expanded with wonderful words like twaddle, lah-de-dahing, and others that make me laugh when I think of them, especially at "inappropriate" times(like meetings). While Grant is deliciously fun to read, it is the way he offsets hilarious moments with poignant insights and genuine feeling for various characters, that gives his work its special style. The off-the-wall stories and renditions have an "insider, tell all" quality that is just plain fun. But it's the sympathy and feeling for certain characters and situations that are as or more revealing in their own way. Actually, this is an aspect of his writing that, hopefully, he will develop and build on in future works. Grant seems to have lost patience or been rushed at the end. But overall, his writing has that magical quality where the reader and the narrator form a bond. One feels the "pain of separation" when the book comes to an end. His unique style and interesting yarns can only make the reader hope he will write again - and soon.
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hideous and boring
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It was very hard finishing this book. I just wasn' very funny and I found the whole story tiresome and very predictable.
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Sharp, hilarious, ridiculous, wonderful!
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A story about nobodies who find themselves a lucky break into Hollywood. OK, so the plot meanders along and you can hear the gears creaking on some of the coincidences, but it will make you laugh out loud. The main character, Vyvian, interior decorator to the stars, looks down on his superstar clients and their ridiculous egos, until he is tripped up by his own...It's a light, frothy read to cheer you up any time. Highly recommended!
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You can practically hear Grant narate this great read!
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You can practically hear Grant narate this great read! This is a great first work of fiction and I'd recommend reading 'With Nails' first - you may well too question whether or not it is all fictitious! His humour shines through this book that teeters on the ridiculous - but it's got that 'can't put it down' quality. I loved it.
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Fast moving, hilarious, Hollywood at its very worst.
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Hollywood through the eyes of one who's spent much time there and obviously gleaned the real side of being in the lime light. The struggle for fame, however it may be achieved, is well shown in this book. Some of it seemed highly unlikely, especially when one of the main characters causes an accident, and is suddenly re-catapulted back to super-stardom. But then as you are reading, certain characters become all too familiar and it becomes obvious that it could all so easily be true. As an English person, Hollywood already seems rather bizarre, on reading this book, my fears have been confirmed.
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