The Actress

Summary (from the publisher): A big, lively breakout novel from bestselling author Amy Sohn, in which a talented young actress falls in love with Hollywood's biggest star — ignoring the rumors that he's gay — only to realize that she may just have been cast in the role of a lifetime.

All Maddy Freed has ever wanted is to act. When the indie film she made with her director boyfriend, Dan, wins her a special acting prize at the Mile's End Film Festival, she's thrilled but doesn't yet understand how much it will change her life. Then she catches the eye of Bridget Ostrow, a legendary talent manager whose biggest client is Hollywood heartthrob Steven Weller. Before Maddy knows it, her career has shifted onto the express track.

Bridget secures Maddy an audition for an Oscar-worthy role opposite Steven, and soon the two actors are thrown together amid Europe's Old World charm. Though for years there have been rumors that Steven is gay, it doesn’t take long before their professional relationship turns personal. After the passionate whirlwind wedding, though, rumors continue to swirl, and cracks start to appear in their fairytale lives. Even as Maddy stands by the man she believes is the love of her life, she begins to question just how much she knows about her role as his wife…

The Actress is a romantic, literary page-turner about Hollywood fame, the treachery of love, and the pleasures and pains of female ambition.

 

Review: I received an advance uncorrected proof as a giveaway on Goodreads.

 

The Actress allows the readers to witness the rise to fame of Maddy Freed. Maddy got her start in acting in theater, but her big break comes when the indie film she made with her director boyfriend, Dan garners much attention - including that of Hollywood star Steven Weller. Before Maddie knows it, she's Hollywood royalty herself and starring in multiple hit films, making millions, and jet setting around the globe. Yet her relationship with Steven seems troubled from the start, and Maddie must face the reality of the choices she has made.

 

Although I enjoyed the storyline of this book, especially its insider look that imitates the lives of today's rich and famous, I really disliked Maddy. She seems impetuous and careless with other's feelings. At the beginning of the novel, she is with Dan yet she impulsively has an impassioned make out session with a (female) costar, seemingly out of nowhere. Despite thinking about having kids with Dan some day, she doesn't seem to feel guilty about cheating, and later sleeps with Steven Weller only days after a passionate reunion with Dan. Then she coldly breaks off her three year relationship with Dan by text: "she did not hesitate before using her thumbs to type out three of her own: 'I'm leaving you.'" (99).

 

Maddy seems impetuous throughout, throwing away her relationship with Dan, and jumping headlong into marriage with Steven, despite glaring warning signs. Steven's sexist, controlling, is rumored to be secretly gay, and their relationship is rocky at best when Maddy agrees to marry him. This pattern of impulsive behavior with little thought to the consequences for herself and others continues throughout. Perhaps this is realistic for an ambitious young star, but it didn't exactly endear me to Maddy.  But I'm not sure you're supposed to like Maddy all that much.

 

On a side note, I found the writing of this odd at times. For example, this stopped me dead in my tracks: "She climbed into the bath with him. Held his cock in her hand. It was like the finger of a musical man. Pale and long. It stiffened in the water" (79). Is that a compliment? What does that even mean?

 

I was also a little skeptical of the subplot that Steven, together with his agent Bridget Ostrow, selected Maddy for the role of Steven's wife: "They were casting for something more than a movie. The marriage was a script. A script that Walter, Bridget, and Steven had written it together. They delivered it flawlessly, there were all off-book" (309). Although it seems that this undoubtedly did happen, Maddy willingly fell into the relationship and agreed to be a part of this exchange; there was no coercion. Perhaps Maddy wishes to believe Bridget is the villain, but I think Maddy is responsible for her own choices in the end.

 

We all know that Hollywood is filled with scandal and divorce. Maddy and Steven are of this world - playing the game of who can garner the most millions, the most fans, the most fame. In the end, they both used their marriage - Steven to hide the rumors of his homosexuality and Maddy to catapult herself into a star. I think the true casualty (as is also true of real celebrities) is their son, Jake. A fascinating inside look at the lifestyles and love lives of the rich and famous.

 

Stars: 3