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 12
... sleeping porches and cases of chronic insomnia . Fiona Chester is up every night from three until five - thirty , when the voice of the morning man on CBC Radio puts her right back to sleep . Bill Bender rises at four to work on the ...
... sleeping porches and cases of chronic insomnia . Fiona Chester is up every night from three until five - thirty , when the voice of the morning man on CBC Radio puts her right back to sleep . Bill Bender rises at four to work on the ...
Page 199
... sleep apnea . It's the extra weight carried on the neck that does it , he said , and the way it restricts the breathing cavities . Their wives send them , he told her knowingly , and for her benefit , she thought , since she was ...
... sleep apnea . It's the extra weight carried on the neck that does it , he said , and the way it restricts the breathing cavities . Their wives send them , he told her knowingly , and for her benefit , she thought , since she was ...
Page 205
... sleep by Danilo opening the door and saying it was time to get up . She woke up in earnest when he began to tear the tape off her face - neck - shoulders . Ow , ow , ow . Ouch ! When did you wake up ? the questionnaire asked . When they ...
... sleep by Danilo opening the door and saying it was time to get up . She woke up in earnest when he began to tear the tape off her face - neck - shoulders . Ow , ow , ow . Ouch ! When did you wake up ? the questionnaire asked . When they ...
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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