<![CDATA[Sunnyside]]>

false <![CDATA[Sunnyside]]>

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From the author of the acclaimed best seller Carter Beats the Devil comes a grand entertainment with the brilliantly realized figure of Charlie Chaplin at its center: a novel at once cinematic and intimate, thrilling and darkly comic, that dramatizes the moment when American capitalism, a world at war, and the emerging mecca of Hollywood intersect to spawn an enduring culture of celebrity. Sunnyside opens on a winter day in 1916 during which Chaplin is spotted in more than eight hundred places simultaneously, an extraordinary mass delusion. From there, the novel follows the overlapping fortunes of three men: Leland Wheeler, son of the world’s last (and worst) Wild West star, as he heads to the battlefields of France; snobbish Hugo Black, drafted to fight under the towering General Edmund Ironside in America’s doomed engagement with Russia; and Chaplin himself, as he faces a tightening vice of complications—studio moguls, questions about his patriotism, his unchecked heart, and, most menacing of all, his mother—to finally make a movie “as good as he was.” With a cast of enthralling characters, both historical and fictional—Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, a thieving Girl Scout, a lovestruck film theorist, Russian princesses, even Rin Tin Tin—Sunnyside is a heartrending, spellbinding novel about American promises both kept and betrayed.

4810410

2009

Sunnyside

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146

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5 0 false false Tue Jun 23 11:22:47 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 11:23:12 -0700 2009 What is one to make of Glen David Gold’s second act, “Sunnyside,” which comes more than seven years after his much praised first novel, “Carter Beats the Devil”? As with Carter, Gold again demonstrates his extraordinary gifts – characterization, humor, and perfectly metered prose,...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jun 10 07:54:30 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 10 08:00:39 -0700 2009
After the first couple chapters of this book, I was in love with its sprawling narrative featuring several storie...more...]]> 1 1 false false Sat Apr 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 11:13:38 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 12:58:31 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 07:39:28 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 07:58:27 -0700 2009 Starting with a bizarre, real-life occurrence of mass hysteria, Gold opens with a bang, and skillfully merges fact with fabrication in this overflowing, pulsating novel. Some critics wished he'd had a more ruthless editor, and others were annoyed by some of his too-clever whims. (For example, the no...

more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 10:16:41 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 10:38:50 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 true false Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 16:27:43 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 14:26:54 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 3 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 14:09:38 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 09:44:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jun 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 18:05:25 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 10:04:57 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 04 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 06 11:54:11 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 04 11:21:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 06:52:53 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 13:37:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 10:34:34 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 26 10:37:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 02:15:04 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 02:19:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 16:51:37 -0700 2009 Wed May 20 16:51:59 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 17:20:30 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 17:35:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 08:24:26 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 02 06:18:26 -0800 2009
Three stories here: the story of Leland Duncan, wanna-be actor somewhat screwed into joing in the military; the story of Hugo Black, American soldi...more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 21:26:51 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 21:29:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 07:37:24 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 12:16:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 03 21:38:08 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 11 12:01:50 -0700 2009
To repeat what many ...more...]]> 1 0 false false Sun Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 11:13:28 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 14 12:24:05 -0700 2009 I wanted to like Sunnyside, largely because I enjoyed Gold's use of language. His writing style is engaging and a pleasure to read.

That said, after much deliberation I reached a decision to NOT finish Sunnys...more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Aug 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 14:11:47 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 19:30:03 -0700 2009 more...]]>