Adrienne Sharp

TW: substance abuse, eating disorders, domestic violence and cheating.

I was swept away by this as a teenager. I went through a huge phase then of reading books about ballet, alongside my lifelong horror and mystery interest. Over the years, I forgot about this book and the details blended with horror books I was reading at the same time. Two years ago, I wanted to read it again and was essentially asking about two different books. I picked the ballet one. It took -years- to find. When two goodreads administrators finally did, I was overjoyed. This is a short story anthology I remembered as a novel. No, back when I was a teenager, I read short story anthologies and poetry regularly. I've since shifted to predominantly stand-alone novels that are three hundred pages at most. Sometimes I read book series. So, this book. It's boring as shit. Yeah, there's a lot of substance abuse in it, but--boring. There's cheating and domestic violence, but the way the stories are written, readers could honestly miss that it occurred. Something I actually appreciated was how blandly eating disorders were treated--it helped the book seem more realistic, is why. I'm not advocating eating disorders. There's nothing new in each story, really. The characters all seem to have the same voice, despite being based off of real-life famous people. They all seem to have the same experiences with little variation. The stories are largely narrative passages and characters thinking a lot. They perceive the world around them languidly. I'm glad the book was split up into different sections clearly, because otherwise I would have thought it would never end. The author was a professional in the industry, and I am glad she wrote this. It just--didn't move me in the ways I was seriously hoping.… (mere)

A dark coming of age story set in Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the 1940's and 1950's. Esme Wells is the young daughter of feckless parents - a mother who dreams of being a movie star, but never emerges from a Busby Berkley chorus line and a father who is a small time failed gambler and gangster wannabe. Uneducated and not very well cared for, Esme is also ambitious, but it's a warped ambition of the bright lights of the movie studios and the neon glitter of Vegas.

After her mother dies of a botch abortion, Esme and her father hook up with Bugsy Siegel and move to Las Vegas and into his famous Flamingo hotel. There Esme, now as beautiful as her mother one was attracts the attention of one of the most powerful (and dangerous) men on the strip. When Bugsy is killed, this man holds the key to Esme's success.

But is it worth it? Jaded at 21, and confronted with one more brutal death, she finally (maybe) finds the strength to walk away. Well written, but depressing.… (mere)