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 |
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Page 86
... once removed . Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her brain had tightened in alarm because Rod Steiger was in the front row . " But I'd like to be , " she said . " I've decided , " she went on , " to take a serious approach to ...
... once removed . Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her brain had tightened in alarm because Rod Steiger was in the front row . " But I'd like to be , " she said . " I've decided , " she went on , " to take a serious approach to ...
Page 185
... Once again it was like winter ( rather than this strange new season of freezing rain ) . Once again it was possible to walk . A group of kids were out sliding on the small hummock of a hill between Downing Street and Colonel By . She ...
... Once again it was like winter ( rather than this strange new season of freezing rain ) . Once again it was possible to walk . A group of kids were out sliding on the small hummock of a hill between Downing Street and Colonel By . She ...
Page 241
... once she stopped trying to get up , once she stopped saying she had to go , and waited for a few minutes , then it was easy to get up and leave . She took her hand off the door handle and sat back . When Kenny came around the corner ...
... once she stopped trying to get up , once she stopped saying she had to go , and waited for a few minutes , then it was easy to get up and leave . She took her hand off the door handle and sat back . When Kenny came around the corner ...
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Common terms and phrases
asked asked Harriet Audrey Hepburn aunt beautiful beside better Bill Bender Buster Keaton called Cary Grant coffee dark desk Dinah Dinah Bloom door downstairs eyes face feel felt fern Fiona Chester Frank Sinatra Fred Astaire funny Garbo Gene Kelly glass going Greta Garbo hair hand happened Harriet Browning Harriet looked hated head heard Jack Frame Jean Simmons Jim Creak Kenny and Jane Kenny's kids kitchen knew laughed Leah Leah's Lew's Lionel living room Marlon Brando mind morning mother never night Ottawa Pauline Kael Peter O'Toole rain remember Rod Steiger Sean Connery Shawl side sleep smile snow someone song detective stayed stood stopped story street talk tell There's thing thought Harriet told took tree turned upstairs voice walk watch What's window woman wonder write