false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174411398m/394172.jpg 394172 10 The best letters are the ones that tell you everything. Not just the big, important stuff, but the little details of life. <I>The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters</I> is a one-sided epistolary novel. We get to read all the letters written by Olivia Hunt, erstwhile film producer, over the year she learns her sister Maddie has cancer. Olivia scuttles between her hometown in Ohio, where Maddie still lives, and Los Angeles, where she's trying to get a film version of <I>Don Quixote</I> off the ground. Along the way, she writes newsy letters to her best friend Tina, crabby mash notes to her ex-boyfriend Michael, worried missives to her parents, breezy memos to (real-life) entertainment honchos, and cheery entertainments to Maddie herself. These epistles are crammed full of the asides and rambling descriptions that make for good letters, and good books. She writes, for instance, "I went down to the cafeteria. Judy, the cashier, told me her daughter passed the Bar exam, so that was nice to hear. She said I looked tired. I ate some iceberg lettuce with orange dressing in the empty cafeteria. And two chocolate chip cookies." It's not poetry, but the orange dressing and the chatty cashier go a long way toward capturing hospital life. It also helps that first-time author Elisabeth Robinson is a producer and screenwriter who worked on <I>Braveheart</I> (among others); she's just as detailed and knowing when she describes the seemingly Herculean task of producing a film. She includes gentle send-ups of Robin Williams and John Cleese, who star in the fictional picture, and terrifying glimpses of executive tantrums. (A Hollywood background has its downsides: the book occasionally strays into formula.) In the end, Robinson's hard work with all those details ultimately results in a believable, lovable heroine. <I>--Claire Dederer</I> 383724 2004 The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters: A Novel total:1625|5:195|4:504|3:606|2:248|1:72| 1625 5377 2229 310 4 3 false false Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 17:44:46 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 18:27:13 -0700 2008
This novel counterbalances the falseness and fecklessness of Hollywood with the intensely weighted reality of ...more...]]> 2 3 false false Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 10:25:47 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 13:46:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 1 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Oct 24 16:28:22 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 16:28:39 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Sep 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 27 21:17:59 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 19 10:56:50 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Jan 11 04:52:42 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 04:53:09 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Feb 21 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Aug 05 07:41:32 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 07:43:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat May 17 07:08:45 -0700 2008 Sat May 17 07:09:24 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false true Mon Aug 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 15:38:36 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 11:46:03 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false true Sat Dec 27 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 06 06:05:24 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 06 06:06:40 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 05:35:41 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 05:50:11 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Jan 16 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Sun Mar 22 12:57:04 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 18:30:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 21:40:26 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 21:45:04 -0700 2009
I enjoyed learning about the main character's life events, but I just couldn't...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 09 09:05:06 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 09 09:05:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun May 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 07:07:25 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 07:09:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Feb 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 12:51:41 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 17:07:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 14:53:55 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 14:53:55 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Oct 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 10:59:53 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 06:18:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 18:47:58 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 08:01:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 26 15:23:47 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 26 16:10:40 -0700 2008
From Amazon.com:

Hollywood and leukemia are the two unlikely poles of this wrenching, tragicomic first novel by independent producer and screenwriter Robinson. Pouring out her troubles in epistolary form, 34-year-old Olivia Hunt, a struggling film producer, chronic...more...]]> 4 0 true false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Nov 05 05:51:05 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 05 06:18:22 -0800 2007 The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters is an amazing book. It's written through a continuous series of letters and emails from Olivia Hunt to several of her friends, her boyfriend, her family, ecspecially her sister. The letters follow her experiences throughout the year, beginnin...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=394172