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 20
He had a newspaper stuck in his back pocket and a pencil behind his ear , and
he was leaning forward with his face in his hands , elbows on his knees , pale ,
tall , wiry - haired - and nobody was asking him to play . Dinah knelt on a slab of ...
He had a newspaper stuck in his back pocket and a pencil behind his ear , and
he was leaning forward with his face in his hands , elbows on his knees , pale ,
tall , wiry - haired - and nobody was asking him to play . Dinah knelt on a slab of ...
Page 21
Oh , I don ' t like playing , ” he said . “ I like watching . I ' m going to be a
sportswriter . ” “ Are you ? ” She leaned back on her heels . “ Then you ' ll have to
learn how to drink booze and play cards . ” “ I know how to play cards . ” “ Crazy
eights ?
Oh , I don ' t like playing , ” he said . “ I like watching . I ' m going to be a
sportswriter . ” “ Are you ? ” She leaned back on her heels . “ Then you ' ll have to
learn how to drink booze and play cards . ” “ I know how to play cards . ” “ Crazy
eights ?
Page 264
Have you read the play ? You should read the play . ” Harriet turned her lightly
tanned face away from the window and looked at Dinah . “ They were too much
alike , Jim and Bill ; they were bound to clash . You don ' t like Fred Astaire either .
Have you read the play ? You should read the play . ” Harriet turned her lightly
tanned face away from the window and looked at Dinah . “ They were too much
alike , Jim and Bill ; they were bound to clash . You don ' t like Fred Astaire either .
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - RandyMetcalfe - LibraryThingElizabeth Hay introduces her novel with an epigraph from legendary film critic, Pauline Kael: “We will never know the extent of the damage that movies are doing to us.” That brilliantly sets the ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - ParadisePorch - LibraryThingNot about Garbo, but vintage b&w films play a part. Hay always delivers a good story filled with human insights and poignancy Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
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 give glass going gone hair hand happened hard Harriet head hear heard heart inside 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
Bibliographic information
| Title | Garbo Laughs |
| Author | Elizabeth Hay |
| Publisher | Counterpoint, 2003 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 8 Mar 2008 |
| ISBN | 1582432910, 9781582432915 |
| Length | 294 pages |
| Subjects | › Fiction / General Fiction / Psychological |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |