Garbo LaughsA Globe and Mail Notable Book of the Year A Quill & Quire Top Five Canadian Fiction Book of the Year A Maclean’s Top Ten Book of the Year Elizabeth Hay’s runaway national bestseller is a funny, sad-eyed, deliciously entertaining novel about a woman caught in a tug of war between real life and the films of the past. Inflamed by the movies she was deprived of as a child, Harriet Browning 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 after Dinah Shore. Into this idiosyncratic world, in time with the devastating ice storm of 1998, come two refugees from Hollywood: Harriet’s Aunt Leah, the jaded widow of a screenwriter blacklisted in the 1950s, and her sardonic, often overbearing stepson, Jack. They bring harsh reality and illuminate the pull of family and friendship, the sting of infidelity and revenge, the shock of illness and sudden loss. Poignant, brilliant, and delightfully droll, Garbo Laughs reveals how the dramas of everyday life are sometimes the most astonishing of all. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - RandyMetcalfe - LibraryThingElizabeth Hay introduces her novel with an epigraph from legendary film critic, Pauline Kael: “We will never know the extent of the damage that movies are doing to us.” That brilliantly sets the ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - chicapeligrosa - LibraryThingI did enjoy the story very much but found the flipping around from one POV to the next a bit confusing at first (especially without any significant separation in the text). Sometimes it wasn't clear ... Read full review
Contents
Section 1 | 39 |
Section 2 | 43 |
Section 3 | 50 |
Section 4 | 63 |
Section 5 | 67 |
Section 6 | 77 |
Section 7 | 83 |
Section 8 | 93 |
Section 19 | 193 |
Section 20 | 203 |
Section 21 | 221 |
Section 22 | 223 |
Section 23 | 235 |
Section 24 | 247 |
Section 25 | 265 |
Section 26 | 269 |
Section 9 | 95 |
Section 10 | 99 |
Section 11 | 121 |
Section 12 | 136 |
Section 13 | 139 |
Section 14 | 141 |
Section 15 | 155 |
Section 16 | 159 |
Section 17 | 163 |
Section 18 | 179 |
Section 27 | 271 |
Section 28 | 291 |
Section 29 | 300 |
Section 30 | 307 |
Section 31 | 313 |
Section 32 | 319 |
Section 33 | 323 |
Section 34 | 336 |
Section 35 | 367 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
asked asked Harriet aunt beautiful beside better Bill Bender Buster Buster Keaton called Cary Grant coffee couldn’t dark didn’t Dinah Dinah Bloom door downstairs eyes face father feel felt fern film find fine fingers Fiona Chester first five floor flowers Frank Sinatra Fred Astaire funny Garbo Gene Kelly glass going Greta Garbo hair hand Harriet Browning head heard Jack Frame Keaton Kenny and Jane Kenny’s kids kitchen knew laughed Leah Leah’s Lew’s Lionel Marlon Brando morning mother never night Ottawa Pauline Kael rain remember Rod Steiger Sean Connery Shawl side sleep smile snow someone song detective stayed stood story street talk tell There’s thing thought Harriet told took trees turned upstairs voice VVhat VVhen VVho VVhy walk wasn’t watch What’s window woman wonder write You’re
Bibliographic information
| Title | Garbo Laughs |
| Author | Elizabeth Hay |
| Publisher | McClelland & Stewart, 2010 |
| ISBN | 1551994321, 9781551994321 |
| Length | 384 pages |
| Subjects | › › Fiction / Humorous / General Fiction / Literary |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |