Chimney Rock by Charlie Smith

Here's a family drama, Hollywood style. Imagine three generations making their living inmovies - probably a bunch of eccentric dramatic personalities right? Actually these people are more extreme than that, but then what the hell, this is Hollywood. The story centres around Will Blake's marital crisis. Now he happens to be a successful pretty-boy actor married to wild woman Zebra Dunn, also quite famous. His father is a rapacious film producer and his mother an aging yet still beautiful movie star.

Luckily for us, Will Blake explains his life with intelligent commentary and opinions which actually make the whole situation very plausible, even ho-hum at times: born, raised and grown up in the business; go to the Academy Awards on Sunday, whatever. What's really bugging Will is his fight with his wife:

"Love would be easy if it was some kind of knockout punch, if it swept you away. But love's no punch. It's this choice you make, this surrender. You decide to take someone else seriously. It's as simple as that. There are a million years of learning and needs behind the choice, and it's always scratched and fretted, run nearly crazy if you want to know, by all the heavy training and upset you've dragged your life out of, your past, your raising, et cetera, all the folderol, but it's still a choice you make, and it still means that you back off from time to time on your own sweaty projects, it means you're on your knees occasionally grubbing in the dirt after somebody you don't really understand and don't always think you want to be next to, and it's this huge risk - anybody can see that - because after all, no matter who she is, she's going to die, or she's going to find somebody else who can chime her bell with a cleaner stroke; you're not going to get it for free, and it wears you out ..."

Marriage, adultery and a messed-up relationship with his father "the ape of Hollywood", all intertwine and gain momentum. Ultimately everything spins out of control because way too many driven personalities are hanging out together.

The book is spliced together wonderfully (oops - movie metaphor!). Post-crisis sequences set up and reveal glimpses of Will's youth, his family, his relationship with Kate a.k.a Zebra, and the answer to the question what happened in Mexico. Smith character's are all nice and complicated. Will presents himself as this inert, philosophical kind of guy, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that he's more of his father's son than maybe he'd like to think.

One other thing that stuck out for me was the affectionate familiarity with which the author describes the city of Los Angeles. I've never been myself, but his words brought me back to the textures of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: dusty heat, traffic culture and all these exotic blooms springing up amidst ugly urban sprawl. I've been told that LA is a lot like KL, so I'm betting he's done a good job.

All up, I would definitely recommend this book. Then later I would apologize for it's raunchiness toward the end, and most especially for the theatrics of the final scene in which Will Blake seems to morph into a Bruce Willis Action Doll. And yet, but still, I would definitely recommend this book.

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