Garbo LaughsThis 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. Harriet is a woman so saturated with the movies, seen repeatedly and swallowed whole, that she no longer fits into this world. Bent on seeing everything she has missed, she forms a Friday night movie club with three companions-of-the-screen: a boy who loves Frank Sinatra, a girl with Bette Davis eyes, and an earthy sidekick named Dinah for Dinah Shore. Breaking in upon this quiet backwater, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood, the faded 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 comedy of secondhand desire, movies and movie lovers come first. |
From inside the book
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Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 5 |
Section 3 | 17 |
Section 4 | 40 |
Section 5 | 48 |
Section 6 | 55 |
Section 7 | 70 |
Section 8 | 76 |
Section 13 | 137 |
Section 14 | 154 |
Section 15 | 187 |
Section 16 | 208 |
Section 17 | 217 |
Section 18 | 236 |
Section 19 | 248 |
Section 20 | 274 |
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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 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 old movies 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