 | GARBO |
Winner of the Ottawa
Book Award, 2004
Finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, 2003
Globe
and Mail Notable Book of the Year
Quill & Quire Top Five Canadian
Fiction Book of the Year
Maclean’s Top Ten Book of the Year
A witty and poignant novel about the tug of war between real love and movie romance. Safely ensconced at the centre of a tight group of cinephiles is tall, dreamy Harriet Browning, a woman inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child. With her eyes so intent on the screen, she fails to see her real-life leading man, whose own glances are about to seek out greener fields. Even the most fervent cinematic addiction can't keep reality – with its sudden shocks and shifting allegiances – at bay forever. In this bittersweet comedy of secondhand desire, Elizabeth Hay has written a virtuoso novel about the costs and rewards of falling in love with the movies. READING GROUP GUIDES:Reading Group Guides available at Chapter by Chapter Movie Guide and Reader’s Guide
" Watch Guys and
Dolls in the afternoon, and the price you pay is evening gloom. "
So writes Harriet Browning, a woman so saturated with old movies
that she no longer fits into this world. Deprived of films as a
child, she is making up for it now, gorging herself on classics,
watching the same scenes repeatedly. Her son and daughter share
this love affair. Around the table in their Ottawa kitchen, they
test each other: the movie with the worst ending? The best beginning?
The best line? Only her husband is excluded. An affectionate man,
he wants his wife to fall in love with him, but watches as she commits
adultery with every actor under the sun. For all its movie references,
Canadian Elizabeth Hay's second novel is a very literary book. Its
story - of family and friends, love and death - unravels slowly
while its characters are lovingly fleshed out. What it lacks in
drama, it makes up in poetry. From start to finish, this book is
perfect, and as lovely to behold as it is beautifully written. ES
The
Guardian (U.K.) A novel so subtle and so wonderfully layered that it resembles a black-and-white movie of a certain era, full of elegance, aura and wit. Globe and Mail Thoughtful, smart, sardonically funny, Ottawa’s Elizabeth Hay has created her own niche in Canadian fiction by fastening her intelligence on the real stuff – the bumps and glories in love, kinship, friendship. Toronto Star If you love movies, you’ll be enchanted. Chicago Tribune Elizabeth Hay is a sinfully good writer to watch out for. Garbo Laughs rates five stars. www.curledup.com/garbo.htm Read more reviews of Garbo Laughs at the following websites:
New
York Times Order from your local bookstore.
Canadian edition: Garbo
Laughs, McClelland & Stewart, 2003,
U.S. edition: Garbo Laughs, Counterpoint, 2003,
U.K. edition: Garbo Laughs, Constable & Robinson, 2004, |
