April 21, 2014
With this ingeniously contrived, cleverly told, if ultimately overstuffed tale of the early days of filmmaking, Conn (author of P.) focuses on early-20th-century American pop culture. The novel opens in 1928 Coney Island as Brooklyn-born brothers Izzy and Micah Grand (né Grombotz) film a comedy starring Henry Till (a fictionalized version of Harold Lloyd) and featuring Babe Ruth. In debt to Harlem gangsters, and facing competition from the newly introduced talkies, Micah, the randy, risk-taking director, and Izzy, a sensitive cameraman, travel to Africa to make the first movie entirely shot on that continent. Assisted by dwarf camera operator Oscar Spiro and native translator Mtabi, the brothers befriend an African king and move into his village. Disaster ensues: the village’s natural harmony is destroyed; beloved friends die; a hippopotamus eats the last reels of film. Conn falls short of his novel’s high ambitions, tackling without illuminating themes of racism and cultural difference. But his novel’s finest moments, including a description of the first Academy Awards and a glimpse of the inspiration for King Kong, demonstrate that Conn can capture the creative chaos of movies with a knowledgeable and resonant voice. Agent: Bonnie Nadell, Hill Nadell Literary Agency.
Starred review from May 15, 2014
A wildly ambitious and entertaining novel that manages to be both slapstick and deeply tragic.A lot is about to change in the summer of 1928 for moviemaking brothers Micah and Izzy Grand. The silent comedy in which they specialize is giving way to talkies, which the brothers and their financially beleaguered producer believe is a passing fad. The Roaring '20s have loosened a lot of moral strictures, including race mixing, though racism remains as rampant in America as apple pie and baseball (Babe Ruth makes an early cameo in the novel and in the movie the Grand brothers are making). And the spirit of Manifest Destiny is soaring through both the fledgling movie industry and the country at large, where the cultural axis has begun to shift from East to West. Though Micah and Izzy are twin sons of Jewish immigrants, in some ways they could hardly be less alike. Micah is impulsive and insatiable; Izzy is repressed. Micah is the director who works on the fly; Izzy is the technician and cameraman who brings his brother's vision to life on the screen. Through an unlikely combination of circumstances (plausibility isn't a major concern here)-including Micah's gambling debt, his love affair with the beautiful (and black) Rose and his producer's financial woes-the film company heads to Africa to work on multiple projects, including one on the rise of slavery (co-written by black gangsters, as payback for Micah's debt), that will provide counterpoint to Birth of a Nation. "Here they were, a gallery of misfits-a black kid, a Jew fairy, and a circus freak-halfway around the world, pulling levers on the American culture machine," writes Conn (P., 2003). The trip profoundly affects both brothers-Izzy in particular-and the Africans they encounter, for if you "[p]oint a camera at something, you change it." As a tale of two continents during a period of significant upheaval, this audacious novel encompasses not merely the essence of America and the art of moviemaking, but the nature of time.To bring this full circle, maybe the Coen brothers could adapt the vision of the Grand brothers for the big screen.
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May 1, 2014
The Grand brothers are known for their silent movies. With Micah directing and Izzy behind the camera, their comedies have been pleasing crowds for years, but in 1928, trouble looms. While the advent of talkies threatens the brothers' livelihood, Micah's interracial affair and penchant for gambling put them in physical danger, as well. With these perils lurking at home, their producer sends them to the jungles of central Africa to collect never-before-seen footage that he hopes will change the fate of their studio. Ultimately, though, it's the brothers who will be most changed by their expedition. Stretching from New York to Africa to California, Conn sets the stage for the golden age of Hollywood with carefully placed contemporaneous events, then challenges that milieu with anachronistic behavior and dialogue. The result is a satirical, heartbreaking tale of disillusionment and self-discovery that, with its Jewish filmmakers, desegregated liaisons, and homosexual awakening, takes on the state of prejudice both then and now. History aficionados may quibble about the details, but classic film buffs will be enthralled.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)
January 1, 2014
Conn delivers on the promise of his devilish debut novel, P., with the story of twin brothers from a Jewish immigrant family who are successfully producing slapstick comedies in 1920s New York when they jump at the chance to make a movie in Africa.
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
May 15, 2014
In the late 1920s, twin brothers Micah and Izzy Grand are at the top of their game as successful producers of silent comedies starring the popular Henry Till. Then their world begins to change. Talkies threaten the dominance of silent films, and Micah, the director and more risk-taking brother, begins an affair with a black employee of the studio that ultimately leads to gambling losses and a run-in with Harlem mobsters. Imperial Studios owner Arthur Marblestone's request that the brothers help save the studio financially by going to Africa to shoot some stock footage comes at a perfect time, but before they can leave, Micah is blackmailed into paying off his debts by making a decidedly noncommercial film about slavery by one of the crime boss's proteges. The journey to Africa will change the brothers' lives more than they ever could have imagined. VERDICT As it confronts early 20th-century attitudes on race, gender, and sexuality, this work of literary historical fiction throws a mirror up to contemporary America. The result is a compelling, high-spirited portrayal of a world at once constrained and brazen and attempting to break free of the bonds of both commerce and convention. [See Prepub Alert, 12/16/13.]--Lawrence Rungren, Andover, MA
Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.