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My Hollywood Audiobook
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(3.00) - 897 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Claire, a composer and a new mother, comes to Los Angeles so that her husband can follow his dream of writing television comedy. With Paul working all hours and Claire left with the baby, William, whom she adores but has no idea how to care for, they hire Lola, a fifty-two-year-old mother of five who works in America to pay for her own children’s education back in the Philippines. Lola stabilizes the rocky household, and other parents try to lure her away. What she sacrifices to stay with Claire and William remains her own secret.
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"Although this story had some big holes and felt sometimes more like satire than a truthful description of the relationship between the nanny and the mother. A nice antidote to the Nanny Diaries - most nannies really do love the kids and most parents are clueless, not unreasonable. Worth a read."
— Emily (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Simpson works habitual magic, showing how love travels, ownerless and unbidden, among children who need adults and adults who need children.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“It takes a very subtle, sophisticated, and confident writer to make our most common problems come off as unique on the page as they feel at three in the morning.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“This is a domestic novel and a highly political one.”
— Time -
“It takes a very subtle, sophisticated, and confident writer to make our most common problems come off as unique on the page as they feel at three in the morning.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“Beautifully realized…One of the most insightful books in years about contemporary American life.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“The real richness of My Hollywood lies in Simpson’s gift for conveying enormous meaning in moments depicted so prosaically that they don’t reveal their significance at first glance.”
— Boston Globe -
“This is classic Simpson…The most serious and potent truths are told.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“A hilarious and heartbreaking take on the real housewives of Southern California.”
— Marie Claire -
“Writing in both women’s voices, Simpson deploys a sharp eye and mordant wit to show us the backstairs view of a Hollywood we’ve never seen.”
— More magazine -
“In Mona Simpson’s new novel about a modern marriage and its discontents, the saga of its Filipina domestic sketches a new variation on the American dream…An intimate, ironic tale.”
— Elle -
“Simpson tells a blistering story of fractured love and flailing parents…Simpson’s taut prose allows her to drill into the heart of relationships, oftentimes with a single biting sentence. Funny, smart, and filled with razor sharp observations about life and parenthood.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Awards
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A 2010 San Francisco Chronicle Best Book
My Hollywood Listener Reviews
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" Enjoyed the book, but had a very hard time relating to the characters.... "
— Ann, 1/12/2014 -
" I wasn't interested in the characters. It dragged a lot. And there are just too many good books out there! "
— Georgia, 1/12/2014 -
" I mostly enjoyed reading this book. I became invested in one of the main characters, and wanted good things to happen to her. And, the book made me think about parenting (mostly mothering) and the ways in which others help raise our kids. That said, I couldn't get past how off she was in terms of writing about children. They were frequently doing things that were developmentally off (usually doing things that much older kids would do). It kept tripping me up. "
— Eva, 1/12/2014 -
" You know...I was so excited about this book. I first read Mona Simpson in the 80s and loved, loved much of her stuff. Maybe I'm in the wrong place for this, but I just couldn't get into it. I wasn't invested in any of the characters and didn't love the storyline. I'm gonna put it aside and maybe come back to it later. "
— Julia, 1/10/2014 -
" Only remarkable for being the first library book I read entirely on my iPhone. "
— Maya, 1/6/2014 -
" Loved this book, particularly the Fillipina (sp?) house-keeper/nanny. The characters, particularly the rich, helicopter parents (ahem), were pitch-perfect. I didn't want it to end. "
— Shannon, 12/23/2013 -
" In some ways frustrating as well as refreshing, this book didn't really seem to be motivated by any particular plot line or conflict until just about the end. However, I still really enjoyed the writing, the voices of the two main characters, and particularly Lola, the Phillipina nanny. "
— Elizabeth, 12/4/2013 -
" Enjoyable read set in LA over the course of the 1990s. It chronicles the challenges American middle/upper class women face in mothering, careers and marriage, and the much bigger challenges faced by the immigrant women they employ as nannies and housekeepers. My main beef is that the prose was full of allusions and subtle references that made the plot hard to follow at times, at least for a reader who hasn't trained her brain to devote 100% power to novels read for fun. "
— Liz, 12/2/2013 -
" Why do I keep reading Mona Simpson's books? She has to be one of the most depressing individuals alive today. "
— Amy, 12/1/2013 -
" What a struggle this book was ... and not worth it. Half is written in the words of an immigrant cleaning woman and it's just painful to try to figure it out. Wouldn't bother with this one. "
— Terri, 10/12/2013 -
" Told from alternating vantage points of the two protagonists, this engaging, bittersweet, story of a holywood family and their nanny is the backdrop for delving into universal issues of love and marriage. Recommended "
— Mary, 7/6/2013 -
" Interetsing perpsective of the nannies vs the mothers. Found it hard to keep track of what was goin on sometime with the nannies language. "
— Nicky, 9/5/2012 -
" Too many unlikeable characters, disjointed character references, annoying story lines....not sure why I finished the book...thought it would get better. Disappointed, as I'd heard very good things. "
— Kathy, 7/14/2012 -
" Started off well, but got more and more draggy and depressing. The musician's life did not feel at all authentic. "
— Beverly, 10/7/2011 -
" Really interesting fictional portraits of L.A. moms as emloyers of domestic help - in this case, mostly Filipina nannies. "
— Yolanda, 8/24/2011 -
" I love this book. I love when books are about something I would never thing I would read about (the relationships between Filipina nanny's and their charges) and I find myself totally wrapped up in the world. Fascinating and heartbreaking. "
— Joshua, 5/27/2011 -
" Claire, the American composer and Lola the Filipina nanny, come together when William is born. The story is of the two cultures and two levels of money and experience meet. "
— Linnet, 5/23/2011 -
" As much as I like this book I am having trouble getting through it. I love the storyline, but it's been five months and I am still stuck in the first third of the book. "
— Jackie, 12/20/2010 -
" Just couldn't get into this book! "
— Deb, 12/6/2010
About Mona Simpson
Mona Simpson’s books include Anywhere but Here, The Lost Father, and A Regular Guy. She was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists and has won the Whiting Writer’s Award, a Guggenheim Grant, the Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation. She has taught at Bard College since 1988.
About Bhama Roget
Bhama Roget has been acting in Seattle for over twelve years. She has been seen in several productions at the Seattle Rep, Seattle Children’s Theatre, and the Empty Space Theatre. She has appeared on television in The Fugitive and on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and can currently be seen on the hit internet comedy cooking show Cookus Interruptus.