Books › Lulu in Hollywood
Lulu in Hollywood
184 pages
A razor-sharp, unsentimental tour through the golden age of cinema, guided by one of its most fiercely intelligent and uncompromising stars.
What it feels like
Reading this collection of essays feels like sitting in a dimly lit, smoky room with the smartest, most observant woman in Hollywood. The pace is brisk and conversational, yet the prose is surprisingly erudite and meticulously crafted. It is not a breathless celebrity tell-all, but rather a sharp, unsentimental dissection of the studio system and the illusions of fame. The mood balances the undeniable glamour of the 1920s and 30s with a shadowed, piercing melancholy about the artists who were chewed up by the machine. Readers who appreciate fierce female independence and dry, cutting wit will devour these pages. It is a deeply intimate experience that strips away the tinsel to reveal the hard, fascinating truths beneath.
- Mood
- glamorous
- shadowed
- intimate
- nostalgic
- Tone
- wry
- unsentimental
- sharp
- candid
- erudite
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the illusion of stardom · artistic integrity · female independence · the machinery of fame
- The writing
- Elegant and razor-sharp, the sentences are crafted with a dry wit and a fierce intelligence that refuses to romanticize the past.
- The arc
- The reader moves from the glittering allure of early Hollywood into a clear-eyed, uncompromising deconstruction of its myths and monsters.
- Who it's for
- Cinephiles and lovers of cultural history who crave memoirs from fiercely independent women who refuse to suffer fools.
Content notes
- sexism
- alcoholism
- industry exploitation
About the book
Eight autobiographical essays by Brooks, on topics ranging from her childhood in Kansas and her early days as a Denishawn and Ziegfeld Follies dancer to her friendships with Martha Graham, Charles Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart, and others are collected here.
Description from Open Library.
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