Lorna Landvik’s latest novel, Best to Laugh, is a departure from her typical storytelling in that
she sets this one in California rather than her native Minnesota. The author
best known for Patty Jane’s House of
Curls and Angry Housewives Eating
Bon-Bons sends her main character, Candy Pekkala, to Hollywood, where she
has the opportunity to sublet her cousin’s apartment in historic and glamorous
Peyton Hall. Here she meets a variety of well-developed and colorful characters
– a strength of Landvik’s writing – who provide friendship, support, and the
connections Candy needs to break into a career as a stand-up comedian.
Landvik, a comedian herself, knows the difficulty of the
business and the life of Hollywood in the 70s and 80s. For Best to Laugh, she drew heavily on her own experiences to shape
those of the protagonist.
This is not my favorite of Landvik’s novels, but I enjoyed
it and it gave me a glimpse into a past lifestyle and era of Hollywood glitz
and glamour.
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