Limelight

June 18, 2018
The stirring latest from Poeppel (after Small Admissions) is a fast-paced, smart look at life and all its unpredictability. Allison Brinkley is excited about moving her family to New York City from Dallas after her husband lands his dream job at a law firm. Once they’re in New York, an incident at Allison’s son’s school leads to Allison visiting musician Carter Reid’s penthouse, and she stumbles her way into a job as his personal assistant. As a mother of three and former high school teacher, Allison feels confident that she can keep Carter on track and get him to complete his run in the upcoming Broadway production of Limelight, a show he’s strongly uninterested in. But Carter has run off other assistants before, and she deals with plenty of obstacles, including an illegal pet turtle, a one-night stand who lingers, and Carter’s inability to learn his lines. The prose is smooth and clever, making for a page-turning, charming novel full of laughs and tears.

In this audio production of Amy Poeppel's novel, listeners enter the consciousness of Allison, a transplant to New York City from Dallas. Her adjustment gets off to a rocky start, but then through an accident (literally) she becomes a mother figure to a teenage rock star who is in the city to perform in a musical based on an old Charlie Chaplin film. Narrator Carly Robins speaks in a high-pitched, sing-songy voice, capturing Allison's uncertainties, patience, and optimism. Her other female characters are sometimes hard to differentiate, and her portrayal of the foul-mouthed, monosyllabic young star is believable but not endearing. While the story itself is slow paced, its characters are relatable. D.L.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine