I really tried to get into this book. I loved the premise and thought I would really enjoy the stories of old Hollywood. However, I gave up after about 40%. There were just too many characters and too much name-dropping to really hold my interest!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Roxanne Granville was raised by her grandparents Leon and Julia Greene. Following the death of her grandmother, Roxanne tells her grandfather she does not want to return to college. In her quest for independence her grandfather arranges for her to live in one of his properties in Malibu. Now Roxanne must decide what she is going to do with her life.

I am incredibly torn about this story! If I am being completely honest there were moments that I struggled to get through this book. There is a lot of content that did not add to the story and only made it longer than it needed to be. On the other hand there was a compelling storyline of race in the 1950’s that I found enlightening. In my opinion this was the best part of the book and the only reason I continued on with the story until the very end.

Roxanne drove me nuts for the first half of the book! She was extremely immature, naive, and spoiled. Her grandfather let her live in the Malibu house for $1 a year. Seriously?! Must be nice! As she got her feet wet in the “real world” she became far less annoying and even a bit sympathetic, determined, and at times wore her heart on her sleeve.

I have a broad familiarity with Hollywood's Blacklisting practices in the 50's but have not read any non-fiction or fictional accounts of the practices until this novel. Kalpakian's historical novel does an excellent job of illuminating the career damage suffered by the Hollywood writers and actors who had even a "brush" with the Communist Party in the 40's or early 50's.

The protagonist in this book takes a brave stance to stand by friends who were blacklisted This book was a sober reminder of what ideological differences (and political ambitions) can do to to friends, families and careers. The subject matter of this book really resonated with me, but the writing did not. I enjoyed learning more about the period and the practices enforced by J. Edgar Hoover and his acolytes, but I felt that the story could have been told with more subtlety or finesse. It felt too much like the novel was simply a vehicle to enumerate the vile practices of the era and the story-telling suffered.

The heroine's affair with a Black journalist added to the complexity of the social injustice message, but the relationship just didn't feel fully realized to me. Something kept me from "buying in to the reality" of the love affair.

I admire Ms Kalpakian for taking on both Red-baiting and race relations, but throwing them both in to the same stew did not improve the dish for me. I wanted to like this book, but never quite achieved that goal. I felt like it needed more substance---we had emotion and pathos, but something was lacking.
NetGalley provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a DNF for me. There was so much name dropping and not much story telling that I could not get into the book nor the characters.

One of my favorite things about this novel is the cover, it is fantastic. The Great Pretenders is set in Hollywood during the McCarthy era and the blacklists. Kalpakian captures the sentiment quite well in her dialogue and settings. Roxanne is finding her way in the murky world of cinema, but she commits one cardinal sin for that era of the 1950s: she falls in love with an African-American. The author accurately depicts the difficulties the couple had and how they were perceived and treated by others. The Great Pretenders is a compelling read of a by-gone era, fraught with fear and tension, but integrity.

I personally wasn't a fan of Laura Kalpakian's writing in The Great Pretenders. It just wasn't my taste, and I had a difficult time getting through this book. However, I did appreciate that this book features an interracial couple in the 1950s. I thought it was a great addition to the typical "Old Hollywood" historical fiction.

It was an interesting premise, just not my cup of tea, unfortunately.

“Life is short and love is long. Love is demanding and rewarding and aggravating, sometimes angering, but it is never finished or over, or done with, not even in death.”

In the 1950s, Roxanne Granville is the granddaughter of Hollywood executive, Leon Granville. Roxanne spent her childhood playing on the studio sets of Empire Pictures, her Hollywood “royalty” has even been known to get her out of trouble a time or two, she is no stranger to the elaborate studio parties that are thrown and has seemingly always fit into her grandfather’s standards of behavior. It is only when her grandmother, Julia, passes away that Roxanne decides to muster up panache and go out on her own. She opens up Granville Talent Agency and hopes to defy the social norms of Hollywood and become a well-known female agent.

This era of Hollywood is known for its glitz, its glamour, and its iconic screenplays but there’s also a lot of politics happening beneath the surface. In the McCarthy-era Hollywood, there are screenwriters and actors who are blacklisted from doing the work that they have always loved because they are seen as Communist sympathizers. Many of the writers are near and dear to Roxanne’s heart and she vows to help them get their work back on the screen any way that she can, even if it means putting her family’s reputation on the line. In the meantime, Roxanne friends an African American journalist who opens her eyes to the other issues that are unfolding in America- the rights of its citizens. Tying together two important issues from that time period, Laura Kalpakian is able to create a whirlwind story that is fit for the big screen in The Great Pretenders.

I feel like I should preface this review by saying that I had no idea there were so many events that transpired in the 1950s across the country. While reading this book, I was constantly looking up facts on my phone; it really served as a great history lesson for me. It also made me stop and think about how what was happening across America happened not too long ago; some of us had parents who were growing up during this time period. It seems crazy that so much has changed but… in reality, so much has stayed the same. This book really caused me to stop and think.

There were countless classic movies that were mentioned throughout The Great Pretenders and I loved it; especially if it was from a movie that I had seen. I wish I had made a list of all the movies mentioned throughout this story, I want to buy the old classics mentioned and watch them. I also loved that there were notable names that were mixed in with the characters of this book like John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Vivien Leigh (there were many others but those are some of my favorites); it made Roxanne’s world seem real to me.

There were parts of this book that had me literally seething with rage. I was skimming sections because I wanted to know the outcome and then I had to go back and re-read the pages that I had skimmed. I know the events that transpired in the pages of this book were actually happening all over the country and it infuriated me.

Finally, I should note that one of my favorite quotes from this book came from the Author’s Note,

“Ideally the human dilemmas that characters face should resonate beyond the pages of any novel. In this book, those dilemmas are questions of aspiration and desperation, of betrayal, of loyalty, forbidden love, regretted folly—in short, choices. Every life has choices. Truly, what are any of us but a handful of character traits tossed into a potful of historical circumstances? We all obliged to respond, fulfill or reject, to rise to occasions we could not have foreseen or imagined.”

I was impressed with Laura Kalpakia’s writing style. I highly recommend pre-ordering this before the April 16th, 2019 release date. It’s entertaining but also educating. Thank you to Laura Kalpakian, Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book! I have a feeling that it will be very successful.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Great Pretenders. This book takes place in the mid to late 1950s when Hollywood was at a turning point. The movie studios were still hanging on to their power with the country in the middle of the Red Scare with actors and writers blacklisted for being Communists and not cooperating with the House on UnAmerican Activity. Television was becoming a threat to the movie business. The Civil Rights Movement was coming into its own after the tragic murder of Emmett Till and the Montgomery bus boycott. Privileged Roxanne Granville, granddaughter of studio mogul Leon Greene doesn’t accept the prejudice surrounding her and forges her own way which includes a passionate relationship with Terrence Dexter, a talented black writer who is conflicted with loving a white woman. Ms. Kalpakian did an excellent job painting an accurate picture of these times creating interesting characters to root for and those to be disgusted with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for this honest review.