Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures

July 2, 2012
In her debut novel (after her early-2012 story collection, Other People We Married), Straub weaves together snapshots of the long, large life of Elsa Emerson, the youngest daughter in a family of quintessentially blonde, corn-fed Midwestern sisters living in Door County, Wis. In the late 1920s, the family runs a summer playhouse, and Elsa’s first role, as a flower girl in Come Home, My Angel, coincides with a family tragedy. These two events shape her passion for acting and her desire to slip into a different character than that of the good, homespun girl she is. At 17, a few years before WWII, she moves to Los Angeles and finds Hollywood the perfect stage for her metamorphosis into Laura Lamont, a dark-haired, serious-eyed starlet who carries with her an air of mystery and gravity completely apart from her idyllic Midwestern upbringing. Written in a removed prose, Straub brings Elsa to life with the detached analysis of an actor examining a character, exemplifying Elsa’s own remote relationship to her identity. Through marriages, births, deaths, and career upheavals, Elsa and Laura coexist, sometimes uneasily—until Elsa learns to reconcile her two selves. An engaging epic of a life that captures the bittersweetness of growing up, leaving home, and finding it again. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Brick House.

August 15, 2012
A film star of Hollywood's golden age goes mild, in Straub's curiously bloodless debut. Elsa Emerson, whose father owns and manages a Wisconsin summer stock playhouse, wasn't always destined for stardom. Her older sister, Hildy, is the one with the glamour, presence and grace. But when Hildy hangs herself after being jilted by an actor, Elsa's discovery of her sister's body forever alters her worldview. Just how, is the novel's task to reveal, and unfortunately it fails in that purpose. Elsa seems to drift into the various phases of her life. Having escaped Wisconsin by marrying fellow Hollywood-bound thespian Gordon, she gives birth to two daughters in quick succession and is consigned to housewifery while her husband achieves a modicum of success under contract to Gardner Brothers Studio. When Elsa meets Gardner mogul Irving Green, he sees her diva potential, renames her Laura Lamont and changes her Nordic blond looks to the persona of a sultry brunette. Gordon is quickly dispensed with, and she marries Irving, who provides security and an opulent house in Beverly Hills. By the time her son, Irving Junior, is born, Laura's career again takes a back seat, this time to a more luxurious domesticity--now even her husband is touting her for matronly roles. Although Laura wins an Oscar early on, there is scant other evidence of her celebrity status since we see mostly her home life. Already a passive character, she becomes more so after Irving's death. (He had a weak heart and was never robust.) She resorts to barbiturates to get her through her not-so-busy day. The tragedy of Irving's death compounds the psychic wounds opened by Hildy's suicide and more recently, her beloved father's passing. Although Straub's languid language convincingly conveys Laura/Elsa's inability to cope, the reader at times wishes this screen star would go less gently into the good night of the aging female in Hollywood. A life in pictures, mostly out of focus.

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April 1, 2012

Midwestern girl puts family tragedy behind her and becomes a star in Golden Age Hollywood. Actually, it sounds like a Hollywood movie, but while that trajectory might seem worn, the book is said to be absolutely charming, and Straub has proven herself by publishing pieces in Tin House, the Paris Review Daily, and Slate. The publisher's big fiction debut of the season.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2012
In her first novel, short story writer Straub (Other People We Married, 2011) tells the story of how Elsa Emerson, milk-fed Wisconsin towhead, becomes brooding and brunette Laura Lamont, celebrated actress. Raised in Door County, a beacon of midwestern beauty, Elsa flees to Hollywood and is lucky enough to be rechristened as Laura by producer Irving Green. But she can't help being forever haunted by her idyllic homeland, the family she left behind, and the tragedy that shaped her young life. Straub's approach is wide-angle. The novel covers a large part of the twentieth century and takes into account most every aspect of Laura's lifeher loves, her family, her career highs and disappointmentsand what emerges is a zoomed-out image of fame before the Google search and an obviously painstakingly researched account of Hollywood's golden era. Recalling a time when reigning studios managed stars' privacy with stories spun for effect, Straub's deft hand is gentler than any tabloid artist could hope to be, and her addicting portrayal of Laura's life is one of a complicated woman who cannot fully grasp her own power but transcends her circumstances, nonetheless.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)