Synopses & Reviews
Can a girl in Hollywood ever trust her girlfriends not to sleep with her famous boyfriend? What's the fastest route out of the life slump that particularly afflicts thirty-five-year-olds who've already done a decade in the "the business"? Should PDPs (Public Displays of Privacy) be outlawed? And what is a "secret celebrity" anyway? Carol Wolper answers these and other burning questions in this sharp-eyed and sly novel, the perfect follow-up to her bestselling
The Cigarette Girl.
Secret Celebrity tells the story of Christine Chase, a thirty-five-year-old filmmaker who is seeking deliverance from ambivalence about everything in her personal and professional life via her latest documentary subject: Richard Gault, a famously elusive, mythically cool cultish actor/musician who went underground in the seventies rather than sell out.
In the process of searching out her secret celebrity and discovering how the legend was born, Christine learns a lot about the kind of people willing to pay the steep price of fame, those who'll pay anything just to trail in its wake, and the kind of people you couldn't pay enough. . . .
Achingly inside, hilariously acute, and right on the money, Secret Celebrity is a novel that sends up our celeb-obsessed culture.
Review
"[C]oolly conversational staccato prose that reads like a collaboration between Jackie Collins and Mickey Spillane....For readers expecting too much, the novel will seem, in Christine's words 'as unfulfilling as a fake orgasm,' but others will enjoy it as a quintessential beach read." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Amusing riffs, sharp wit, and the search for a '70s icon aren't enough to keep the action moving. Sadly, Christine's lull is far-reaching." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"There's enough action to keep the reader interested, and no character is made out to be entirely detestable, but this novel will most appeal to those most like Christine critical of Hollywood but still reading People magazine from cover to cover." Beth Warrell, Booklist
Review
"Wolper...provides an insider's view of life in L.A., sprinkling it with pop culture tidbits....[I]ntermittent chapters [from William's perspective] merely interrupt the tale's flow....Thankfully, these intrusions are brief, and the bawdy tale continues easily enough....Anyone looking for the literary version of a summer blockbuster slick, easy and thoroughly enjoyable should dig in." Kelly DiNardo, USA Today
Synopsis
Can a girl in Hollywood ever trust her girlfriends not to sleep with her famous boyfriend? What's the fastest route out of a slump for girls who've done a decade in "the business"? Wolper answers these and other questions in this sharp-eyed, sly novel, the follow-up to her bestselling The Cigarette Girl.
About the Author
Carol Wolper is a novelist and screenwriter.