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The Girls in the Picture: A Novel por…
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The Girls in the Picture: A Novel (original 2018; edição 2018)

por Melanie Benjamin (Autor)

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4768151,460 (3.74)11
A fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood's earliest female legends--screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator's Wife It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers"--the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have given her the title of America's Sweetheart. The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution. But their ambitions are challenged both by the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender--and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the world's highest paid and most beloved actress, struggles to live her life under the spotlight, she also wonders if it is possible to find love, even with the dashing actor Douglas Fairbanks. Frances, too, longs to share her life with someone. As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered. With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness. Melanie Benjamin perfectly captures the dawn of a glittering new era--its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak.… (mais)
Membro:leslielandry
Título:The Girls in the Picture: A Novel
Autores:Melanie Benjamin (Autor)
Informação:Delacorte Press (2018), 448 pages
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The Girls in the Picture por Melanie Benjamin (2018)

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Mostrando 1-5 de 82 (seguinte | mostrar todos)
I have been drawn to historical fiction novels lately. I truly believe that there is a lot to learn from the past, and reading about other people's lives, and knowing that these events happened, is simply fascinating to me.

Of all the books I've read lately The Girls in the Picture is by far my favorite.

Let me start by saying that Melanie Benjamin is an incredible writer. I have never been interested in old Hollywood before but Ms. Benjamin had a way of pulling me into this early teens and 20's era and allowing me a glimpse into that world. She brings to life a story of two women who made incredible strides not only in the cinematic world, when gender barriers abounded, but also in their personal lives, and to show that women were more than just mere housewives and mothers, but could be true voices and make a real difference in the world.

It's 1914 and moving pictures, or "flickers" are in their inception. Frances Marion has just left her second husband and moves to Los Angeles for a fresh start. She is immediately mesmerized with this new medium and finds herself writing stories for this new, blossoming industry in Hollywoodland. A young actress catches her attention and before long she befriends the adorable Mary Pickford, who shares her vision for a world where stories could be told and to make art and not just entertain people.

The Girls in the Picture is the story of Mary and Fran's incredible friendship. Their love for each other runs deep and keeps them bound throughout their entire lives, despite turmoil and heartache.

Fran deals with fighting to be more than just Mary Pickford's scenarist, and longs to write screenplays that make a difference in people's lives. Mary, on the other hand, has quickly become America's Sweetheart, and the rush to stardom is a little more than overwhelming, seeing her struggle to adjust to the spotlight. Both women long for true love and find their soulmates, only for tragedy to strike, just like in the movies.

I couldn't put this incredible book down. Your heart aches for both Mary and Fran as they fight against gender prejudice in the industry, as well as the waves that each of their personal lives take. I've never been interested in early Hollywood history or silent movies before but I can truly say that has all changed thanks to The Girls in the Picture.

I do have to warn that this novel does have adult language but other than that it was an imaginable read. When I finished, I did some more research on Mary Pickford and Frances Marion to see how much of the story was true and was pleasantly surprised! Melanie Benjamin was extremely accurate with the exception of omitting some facts about each woman's life, which she explains in her author's note at the end of the novel. You finish the book with complete satisfaction and thankfulness for these two women who "paved the way for the women working in film today." Mary and Frances, you will not be forgotten. ( )
  cflores0420 | Mar 22, 2023 |
When would-be artist Frances Marion flees San Francisco for Los Angeles in 1914, the last thing she anticipates is falling in with the crowd of hopefuls knocking on the doors of those who produce “flickers,” as movies are popularly called. But Frances catches the bug too, and in a great stroke of luck, gains an introduction to Mary Pickford, the most beloved actress in America, who also has artistic control over her films.

Luckier still, Mary and Frances take to one another on sight, and a famous partnership begins. With Marion as her screenwriter, Pickford will go on to even more dazzling heights, playing young girls in her famous blond curls and rosebud lips.

Naturally, La-La Land can’t remain milk and honey forever, with such large egos, salaries, and audiences in which to bask. And that is by no means the whole picture. As women at the peaks of their respective professions, Pickford and Marion become easy targets for jealousy and slander, with others waiting — hoping — for their fall, men in particular. The two friends often talk about such conniving men and vow they’ll never let a man come between them. Famous last words.

However, it’s not just the man-child Douglas Fairbanks who splits the friendship when he marries Mary, and whose powers of jealous manipulation know no limit. Within a few years, the advent of talkies overturns the silent screen, casting out those performers who can’t cope in the new medium (or are perceived incapable of it). Further, as producers consolidate their power—and the industry—they retain artistic control and subjugate their hired talent, women especially.

This history both enlivens The Girls in the Picture and undoes it. I like the behind-the-scenes action that describes how movies are made, for both the silent and sound eras. I’m also glad to learn how the studio system today got its start, and the how its rampant sexism has very old roots. But these events and themes, significant though they are, fail here to make a novel.

The narrative, though talky enough, rests on simplistic characterizations that bounce between two poles instead of bumping up against edges. In almost any scene, the reader may ask, will Mary be the girl who never had a proper childhood, and who grasps at her popularity to prop her up? Or will the generous, sensitive adult shine through for her friend Frances, with whom she shares an artistic outlook and ardent feminist sensibilities? As facts and viewpoints repeat themselves, the conflict plays out from A to B and back.

The story also seems too simple. Love happens at first sight, and so does hatred. Conflict lasts a few paragraphs, and just when you think, Now, we’re getting somewhere, the rift resolves somehow. Benjamin throws up stop signs but pulls them down rapidly, maybe because the story must move on to the next script, the next year.

Round about page 260, the threat that Fairbanks poses to the women’s friendship emerges, and for a while, the trouble percolates and deepens. But for some reason, Frances, who’s capable of holding her own with just about anybody, can never manage with Mary. Benjamin, who says that she has made up all the dialogue, seems unable to let her stars go.

Some of these problems may have to do with biographical fiction and its constraints, but there are other, more successful approaches to Hollywood, as with The Chaperone, about Louise Brooks, a lesser silent film star. The Girls in the Picture aspires to a more panoramic view, which is fine; in a different framework, that might work.

But despite a large cast, this novel stays a two shot, Pickford and Marion, which poses limits, and their long internal monologues feel predictable and repetitive, especially Pickford’s. As for color, the cameos the jacket promises are similarly flat, except for that of the entirely self-absorbed lech, Louis B. Mayer.

The Girls in the Picture has whetted my interest in reading about early Hollywood history, so I’ll say that. If that’s what you’re looking for, maybe this book is for you; but I can’t recommend it as a novel. ( )
  Novelhistorian | Jan 28, 2023 |
This book is the story of the ups and downs of a deep friendship between two professional women, Mary Pickford and Frances Marion, over the time period 1914 – 1969, as they work together in the silent “flickers,” and later in the “talkies.” Mary Pickford, of course, it the well-known actress that played mostly girlish roles and became “America’s Sweetheart.” Frances Marion is a writer-director that eventually won Academy Awards for her work as a “scenarist” (today known as a screenwriter). These two women develop business acumen that is not always admired by the men in charge of the studios, until the public reception proves their insights were right on target. The book covers their personal lives, marriages, and public and private personas.

The writing is expressive, and the characters are well developed, particularly Frances Marion. The author provides a sense of the early chaotic days of Hollywood, and how Hollywood changed from almost disreputable to respected and lucrative. Many personalities of the silent era are referenced to good effect. Benjamin takes artistic license with a few facts, which she explains in the Afterword, and her reasoning is sound. The ending could have been stronger but seems fitting with the themes developed throughout the narrative. There are a few segments where the pace slowed, focusing on internal dialogue of the characters.

I listened to the audio version, read by Kimberly Farr. She does an extremely good job with consistent and distinct voices for the main characters. She modulates her voice and her tone is pleasing to the ear. The audiobook kept my interest over the course of 16.5 hours. I found this book engaging and entertaining. ( )
  Castlelass | Oct 30, 2022 |
The Girls in the Picture is a book that I knew that I wanted to read as soon as I saw it. I love reading historical fiction about movie stars, or stories that in one way or another takes place in Hollywood. Especially around the Silent movie era and when the talkies came. I had only previously read Reckless Hearts: A Story of Slim Hawks and Ernest Hemingway by Melanie Benjamin, but she has written several books that I want to read.

What really struck me about this book was, despite, my deep love for silent movies, and old Hollywood classics is that Frances Marion was totally unknown to me. And she's behind several of my favorite movies, like A Scarlet Letter with Lars Hanson and Lillian Gish. Also, I had no idea that she was a close friend of Mary Pickford.

In this book, we get a fictional story about the friendship between Frances Marion and Mary Pickford. I enjoyed getting to know the women more and I especially enjoyed learning more about their lives. Both had great love stories, but neither had truly happy lives, despite, their success. Not all of their lives are written in this book, as Melanie Benjamin stated in her notes, just Mary Pickford relationship with her adopted children would fill a whole book. I personally had to take a break from the book several times to check up a name or a title, etc.

The Girls in the Picture is definitely a book to read if you, like me, love old Hollywood movies and are intrigued by the actors and actors from the golden era. I was charmed by the cameos, especially Charlie Chaplin's presence in the book. Made me eager to read a book about him or see his movies.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )
  MaraBlaise | Jul 23, 2022 |
I usually like Benjamin’s historical novels, but this one was not very well done. The story of the friendship between Mary Pickford and screenwriter Frances Marion set in the4 early days of Hollywood and stretching through the 1960’s should have been fascinating. Instead I found the book poorly plotted and the characters barely developed. I don’t know how a writer could make this material boring, but Benjamin surely succeeded in doing just that. Pass on this one. ( )
  etxgardener | Apr 3, 2022 |
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Perhaps the simplest formula for a plot is: invent some colorful personalities, involve them in an apparently hopeless complication or predicament, then extricate them in a logical and dramatic way that brings them happiness.
- - Frances Marion
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To Benjamin Dreyer, who rescued this novel from the slush pile
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Lately, the line between real life and movies has begun to blur.
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A fascinating novel of the friendship and creative partnership between two of Hollywood's earliest female legends--screenwriter Frances Marion and superstar Mary Pickford--from the New York Times bestselling author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue and The Aviator's Wife It is 1914, and twenty-five-year-old Frances Marion has left her (second) husband and her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live independently as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers"--the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. Turn any corner in this burgeoning town and you'll find made-up actors running around, as a movie camera captures it all. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have given her the title of America's Sweetheart. The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, their kinship fomented by their mutual fever to create, to move audiences to a frenzy, to start a revolution. But their ambitions are challenged both by the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender--and their astronomical success could come at a price. As Mary, the world's highest paid and most beloved actress, struggles to live her life under the spotlight, she also wonders if it is possible to find love, even with the dashing actor Douglas Fairbanks. Frances, too, longs to share her life with someone. As in any good Hollywood story, dramas will play out, personalities will clash, and even the deepest friendships might be shattered. With cameos from such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Louis B. Mayer, Rudolph Valentino, and Lillian Gish, The Girls in the Picture is, at its heart, a story of friendship and forgiveness. Melanie Benjamin perfectly captures the dawn of a glittering new era--its myths and icons, its possibilities and potential, and its seduction and heartbreak.

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