Jess Dunne, about to turn thirty, has returned to
Hollywood with a
vengeance. Recently divorced, Jess rides around
Hollywood on a
Trek Hybrid bike. Only fourteen year olds and drunks with
DUI's ride
bikes in Hollywood. Jess is neither. Her car was
repossessed
and it's the only way she can get around. She hates her
job at
DATE PALM , where she works as a counter person. Pete,
the twenty-three
year old perpetually stoned manager has hinted at putting
her on
the earlier shift where she could make more in tips but so
far he
has been stonewalling her.
Arriving late, Pete is annoyed. He
tells her to train the new trainee, Kenner, who he just
hired.
Kenner is young, eager and is wearing six hundred dollar
Nigel
Caboutn jeans and leather sneakers that cost as much as
her
recently repossessed car. Kenner tells Jess he was given
the
sneakers in his last job where he was the personal
assistant to an
Oscar winning mega star. When Jess discovers Pete hired
Kenner to
work the shift she was waiting for Pete tells her,"I can't
give
you that shift. "You are kind of aging out of the barista
scene."
She quits on the spot but not before Kenner tells her he
thinks
she would be a perfect assistant to his old boss. He
promises to
call and put in a good word for her. He does and Jess
gets an
appointment to meet the famous film composer.
Tyler Montaigne has won an Oscar, two Grammys and an Emmy
for
Outstanding Musical Composition for a Series and lives in
Santa
Monica Canyon. He meets and likes Jess. He is nice, laid
back
and almost too-good-to-be When he offers her a job for a
month
to " let's see if we're compatible" basis, at a rate of
twenty dollars per
hour, she eagerly accepts. It is not long before Jess
discovers
Tyler is an Agoraphobic and she is constantly running
errands.
She is given strange errands. One really weird
assignment; to
buy two old, used leather armchairs that Tyler saw in the
Ralph
Lauren Studio. He was very impressed when Jess got them
for him
at $4,000 each. When she leaves his employ to take
another
position as assistant to Eva Carlton, a bona fide actress,
they
remain friends. Eva promises more money and more
prestige.
Jess and Megan, her BFF, live in a rent controlled
apartment in
Baja Santa Monica. Megan is a size two, gorgeous, and a
theater
major from UCLA. Megan is rare and is a Hollywood
Workhorse. She
auditions constantly, takes every job she is offered and
saves her
money "for a rainy day." Their friendship is warm and
loving and
both show their loyalty to each other during this
dazzling,
delicious ride. Eva Carlton, gorgeous beyond description,
a
selfish, ambitious actress that used Jess so much I began
to loath
her. She lied to everyone and treated Jess miserably. It
was not
until Jess discovers Eva is wrecking the romance between
Megan
and JJ, an upcoming actor, that Jess wonders if this is
the right
job for her, or is it time to move on?
Shanna Mahin is a gifted story teller and fills our
obsession with
Hollywood celebrity in this fast paced, hilarious plot
with sub-
plots that are dizzying. Her cast of characters are truly
colorful, truly Hollywood. An honest portrait of
Tinseltown and
of those who are climbing to get to the top at any
expense. I
enjoyed OH! YOU PRETTY THINGS and look forward to a sequel
that I
am sure will be coming soon.
From a PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Fellow comes a charming and disarming tale of Los Angeles that navigates the fringe of celebrity excess from the other side of Sunset Boulevard. Jess Dunne is third-generation Hollywood, but her star on the boulevard has yet to materialize. Sure, she’s got a Santa Monica address and a working actress roommate, but with her nowhere barista job in a town that acknowledges zeroes only as a dress size, she’s a dead girl walking. Enter Jess’s mother—a failed actress who puts the strange in estrangement. She dives headlong into her daughter’s downward spiral, forcing Jess to muster all her spite and self-preservation to snag a career upgrade. As a personal assistant for a famous (and secretly agoraphobic) film composer, Jess’s workdays are now filled with shopping for luxury goods and cooking in his perfectly designed kitchen. Jess kills at cooking, a talent that only serves her intensifying urge to dig in to Los Angeles’s celebrity buffet. When her food garners the attention of an actress on the rise, well, she’s all too willing to throw it in with the composer and upgrade again, a decision that will have far-reaching ramifications that could explode all her relationships. All the while, her mother looms ever closer, forcing Jess to confront the traumatic secrets she’s been running from all her life. Oh! You Pretty Things is a dizzying ride at the carnival of fame, a fast-paced and sharply funny work that dares to imagine what happens when we go over the top in a town of gilded excess.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy