Synopses & Reviews
The Other Side of Mulholland is:
"a frothy, fast-paced exploration of the dichotomies between the two distinct sections of Los Angeles: upper L.A. with 'all the glitz and the big houses and beautiful women and BMWs, and lower L.A., the suburbs 'too dull to be the subject of a TV show or a Joan Didion novel.'"-Washington Post
The Other Side of Mulholland is:
everything the image-makers of Los Angeles want to keep under wraps: the tract housing, the car dealerships, and the parents' place with its wet bar and kidney-shaped pool.
The Other Side of Mulholland is:
"a wise exploration of how, for many of us, family ties can not only bind, but gag."-Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry
The Other Side of Mulholland is:
the cord that tethers twin brothers Perry and Tim Newman to their shared past when the present-with Perry a sleek television producer and Tim a lowly journalist-feels as competitive as Hollywood itself.
The Other Side of Mulholland is:"a hugely readable debut by a terrific new voice in American fiction."-Jerry Stahl, author of Plainclothes Naked
A Los Angeles Times Book Review Best Book of 2001
Review
"Fresh, witty, and relentlessly funny." --Laura Zigman
"If Bridget Jones had a sex change and teamed up with Nathanael West, the result would be the scathing, hysterical, drop-dead-accurate portrayal of contempo L.A. captured in Stephen Randall's The Other Side of Mulholland. With laser-sharp wit and sentences you want to read out loud to strangers, Randall lays bare the pretensions, rituals, and peculiar air-conditioned dementia of life in the City of Angels. A hugely readable debut by a terrific new voice in American fiction." --Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight and Perv: A Love Story
"Randall's novel is a wise exploration of how, for many of us, family ties can not only bind, but gag." --Laura Zigman, author of Animal Husbandry
Synopsis
In Randall's hilarious novel of manners and mores in modern Los Angeles, twin brothers Perry and Tim Newman fight the ties that bind them to their pasts on the other side of Mulholland. While Perry swaggers home with a new girlfriend and a development deal in his pocket, Tim toils in the decidedly temporary offices of the Hollywood Today web site and wonders if there will ever be a right moment to spring his sexuality on his parents. But Syd and Ann Newman's lives haven't stopped because the boys moved into town. Syd's life work, Newman's Super Honda, is under attack, and Ann's serial passions -- for therapy, activism, and real estate -- are beginning to take their toll. When Tim has a rare chance to be a hero, will he take it? Will the balance of fraternal power shift once and for all?
About the Author
Stephen Randall is Executive Editor of
Playboy magazine. He lives in Los Angeles.