Garbo LaughsFrom the award-winning author of A Student of Weather, a funny, sad-eyed novel about a woman caught between real love and movie love--and real love doesn't stand a chance. This is a novel about movie love. Set in Ottawa in the 1990s, it is the quixotic tale of tall, thin Harriet Browning, inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. Bent on seeing everything she has missed, she rapidly becomes so saturated with old movies, seen repeatedly and swallowed whole, that she no longer fits into this world. Equally addicted are her three companions- of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra, a girl with Bette Davis eyes, and an earthy sidekick named after Dinah Shore. Breaking in upon this quiet backwater, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood, the jaded widow of a famous screenwriter and her movie-expert stepson. They are Harsh Reality. With them come blackouts, arguments, accidents, illness, and sudden death. But what chance does real life stand when we can watch movies instead? What hope does real love have when movie love, in all its brief intensity, is an easy option? In this brilliant and poignant comedy of secondhand desire, m |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... door slammed , the taxi pulled away , and then Lew Gold was heading up the steps and Kenny was heading down . His sister was on his heels . Their house was two storeys high and made of yellow brick . The wood trim in the hallway was ...
... door slammed , the taxi pulled away , and then Lew Gold was heading up the steps and Kenny was heading down . His sister was on his heels . Their house was two storeys high and made of yellow brick . The wood trim in the hallway was ...
Page 205
... door to an ecstatic Stella , the glamorous white mala- mute in his life . Then he showed Harriet into the living room , let the dog out the back door , and got busy in the kitchen . Harriet , seated in an old velvet armchair low to the ...
... door to an ecstatic Stella , the glamorous white mala- mute in his life . Then he showed Harriet into the living room , let the dog out the back door , and got busy in the kitchen . Harriet , seated in an old velvet armchair low to the ...
Page 241
Elizabeth Hay. Her other hand was still on the door handle , and some movie memory - the image of a woman's hand hovering around the handle of a pickup door - pressed in as she turned away . But he tugged her back , and she remembered a ...
Elizabeth Hay. Her other hand was still on the door handle , and some movie memory - the image of a woman's hand hovering around the handle of a pickup door - pressed in as she turned away . But he tugged her back , and she remembered a ...
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answer asked aunt beautiful began beside better Bill called Cary coffee coming couldn't dark didn't Dinah don't door everything eyes face fall feel felt fern Fiona Frame front Garbo gave give glass going gone hair hand happened hard Harriet head hear heard heart interest It's Italy Jack Jane Kenny kids kitchen knew later laughed Leah leave light living looked mean mind morning mother moved movie never night once Pauline picture play reached remember side sitting sleep smile snow someone sound standing stayed steps stood stopped story street talk tell thing thought told took tree turned voice waiting walk watch week window woman women wonder write wrote