Pure Hollywood by Christine Schutt

Pure Hollywood proved to be a collection plagued by a wide spectrum of dullness. There were moments, mostly at the start of the collection, where overwrought prose ran rampant in a way that made no sense whatsoever. It was as if the author, Christine Schutt, had her trusty Word Thesaurus immediately on hand, ready to whip out at any moment to form absurd sentences instead of creating readable literature—as if her way of being “creative” was to write so evasively and nonsensically as to confuse the reader into thinking, “Damn, this MUST be the newest form of erudite art; I’ve got to HAVE it!” purely (sure, why not?—pun intended) because they don’t get it at all.
As many readers and writers know, Ernest Hemingway is famously quoted as saying: “If a writer knows enough about what he is writing, he may omit things that he knows, and the reader … will feel those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.” I’m confident that this is not what you’ll find in Schutt’s Pure Hollywood. All of the stories seemed unfinished and covered in a blanket of gray soot. They were all a bit dreary (that’s fine) and very unfinished. There was very little shock factor in this collection at all, and what little there was wasn’t followed-up on, so the few moments of revelation turned out to be aimless, pointless, near-powerless punches that slipped off the skin like water, non-scathing and unmemorable.
The first story in the collection took up one-third of the space of the entire anthology and had literally only one moment of pure interest. You’ll know that moment when you get to it. I left “Pure Hollywood” behind feeling that moments of my life had been squandered in reading it. But, I pressed on.
The second story in this collection, “The Hedges,” begins as such:
The woman who had just been identified as attached to Dick Hedge looked pained by the clotted, green sound of her little boy’s breathing, an unwell honk that did not blend in with the sashaying plants and beachy-wet breeze of the island.
*raising hand* Umm, did you just try to say that a woman’s son was sick on the beach? I had to read that line at least three times just to extract some meaning from that sludge of words, almost senseless when mixed in that formula. That opening line alone was enough to make me say “Pass” on that story. BUT I pressed forward again. I ended up liking “The Hedges”—the story of a strangely unhappy young couple on vacation with their fussy toddler and the events on that vacation that led to an unfortunate event—far more than I liked any of the other stories, but I didn’t like everything about it. It read like an adult version of “Fun with Dick and Jane” (and the husband is even named Dick). If that was Schutt’s intent, it fell just short of being clever because it was somehow never fully realized. It read like an outline of a story with none of the goods filled in, and because of that I didn’t especially care about the family, particularly that toddler.
“The Duchess of Albany” was the absolute epitome of the word WASP(y) and held no interest for me whatsoever. It read easily, sometimes even jauntily, but in the end left absolutely no impact.
“Family Man” was a dull flash fiction about a dull man. Literally. That is all.
“Where You Live, When You Need Me” warranted only an annoyed side-eye glance and a curt flipping of the page. As far as I can tell, it said nothing about anything but still managed to be rather snobbishly WASPy. Are these people hiring a homeless woman whose full name they don’t even know to help them out around the homes they’re renting in “the Berkshires,” then contemplating their belief in God (for one ridiculously, pretty much ironically brief second) with nothing else said as if that was enough? The nerve. Nothing else to be said about this one.
“The Dot Sisters”—what for??
“Oh, the Obvious” drew me in because of the potential for irony implied in the title. There was some irony in the end that was tolerably well done.
In the end, Christine Schutt’s Pure Hollywood is a collection I’m sure most people can live without. This compilation of stories added nothing to the dialogue about anything, unless you are the kind of reader who enjoys a dry read of literary content the likes of which is sure to make future readers inexperienced with the genre cringe away from it. For me, it was fiction without a soul (except for, maybe, the second one). To give the best and most accurate analogy I can think of, this entire collection was written for and about extremely uptight Protestant-esque people of coin (probably family money) who would wear cardigans buttoned at the neck and drone on and on about the troubles with “the help.” Picture that person and you’ve got a pretty good idea of the audience for this short story collection. I struggled with what rating to give Pure Hollywood. In the end, 2 stars seemed fair enough, and I’ll move on with my life thinking no more about it. **

I have to admit I was disappointed in this book. The stories all seem incomplete - more character studies than short stories. They just weren’t very interesting to me

I really wanted to like this book because I was so intrigued by the title and blurb, but I had the hardest time staying interested in the separate "snapshots" of each character's life. I think the individual stories were well written and interesting to a certain extent, but I was thrown off by how disconnected the novel felt as a whole. I do recommend this book however if you are someone who likes your fiction a little darker and can read without needing the entire cast of characters to connect.

The author wrote interesting vignettes that weren’t complete enough to be short stories. I didn’t find enough resolution to feel an ending in the early stories. I DNF at 70%.. I just felt at a loss.

DNF at 48%

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Honestly, I would have probably stopped reading before 48% if I didn't feel slightly guilty about requesting a book and not finishing it, but I knew it was just a waste of my time.

To be fair, I don't usually like short stories, but the premise of this one sounded intriguing, and I'm a sucker for Hollywood stories. However, I felt disconnected from the getgo. All these stories seemed to start in the middle, presuming that we already knew the characters and how they related to each other. I guess you have to make some concessions if you're going to get your point across in a short amount of time. That, combined with the sparse sentences, just left me feeling disconnected from the characters and their actions. It wasn't easy to infer what they were thinking or feeling.

Unfortunately I could not finish this book. Nothing really grabbed me when I started reading it and it almost became a chore. Thank you for the opportunity to read it.

Pure Hollywood definatelly wasn't what I expected it to be. It was one of the few times that I chose a book only because of the title and naturally I expected a celebrity drama infused with lots of sarcasm. Sadly I was disappointed, but hey, my bad... Some of the stories I liked, others not as much, but it was a quick read, wich is always good. The writing was beautiful, but it didn't totally warked its magic on me.

Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Pub. Date: March 13, 2018

I was in the mood for something light and fluffy. I didn’t even read the book blurb before I began reading the story since the title sounds like a celebrity movie-star type of easy read. I was way off. Nevertheless, I am so glad that I found this author, Christine Schutt, and read this short story collection. She writes eleven captivating tales portraying the darkness that the reader will find in the souls’ of her characters. I am using the word “soul” for that is just what came to mind. After I finished this collection, I googled the author and learned that in 2009 her book, “All Souls” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. I sure did stumble into good luck discovering Christine Schutt.

“Pure Hollywood” is the title story. It is more a novella than a short story. A brother comes to aid his sister after the death of her much older husband. Her stepchildren, who are her age, ensure that she will not inherit a cent. The story goes back and forth in time to their dysfunctional childhood and the present. It is very sad and telling to read that the brother actually compares the sister’ (for now) showy mansion to be as frosty as when they were children and living in their mother’ car. The siblings have a complicated relationship. If I say more it would be a spoiler. Creepy read.

“Lucinda’s Garden” features a self-absorbed young couple. They are lucky enough to be house-sitting a seaside cottage. All day long, they lie in the sun, swim in the ocean, smoke joints and are very much in love with themselves; more so than with each other. They feel invincible, so they take many dangerous risks. Again, saying more would be a spoiler. Still, I will share that I disliked them till I liked them and repeated these thoughts throughout the tale.

“The Hedges" is the story that chilled me the most. A young married couple goes on vacation to a swanky beach resort. They bring along their toddler son. The other guests notice that the mother goes out of her way to ignore and not be around her child. She leaves all vacation parenting to her husband while she sunbathes. We know that the boy is sick, which makes him cranky. Still, this does not excuse her to the others. This reviewer thinks that although she loves her son she does not possess maternal instincts. She is not a frigid mother. She is simply not a natural mom. The plot line becomes a tragedy that I did not see coming. Maybe it is the mother in me that I found this one so very hard to read.

Schutt has a knack for creating unexpected plot twists. More importantly, she will scare the bejesus out of you by bringing you inside the minds’ of her toxic characters. You will recoil from their disturbing passions. Some of the stories are extremely short still, they carry a big punch; assaulting the reader. I may not have read this author before, but I most certainly will be reading her again

Pure Hollywood is sharply talented, uncomfortable at times but thoroughly engrossing. Schutt writes with precision and a sharp lyrical kind of poeticism in this collection of short stories. Her stories focus in on gardens and deserts, cultivation and despair, and finding what comes from loss.

Schutt’s prose is clean as a knife, and feels just as dangerous. From an old woman whose husband has died, to a young couple on vacation with their child, these stories ring with a brutal honesty. The story of a woman seeking an escape on a dude ranch is a particular jewel in this collection. These stories stick in the mind like burrs, and how oddly pleasant that is to have been prodded by such a talent as Schutt.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for the advance digital copy. All opinions are my own.

A collection of short stories not connected to each other by anything except the poetic, psychodelic language of narration.

You can’t determine with any certainty the time set of any story. They could have taken place in the 60s or 80s or even in 2006.

Reading this book was difficult because none of the stories had beggining, middle or end. They all were like snippets, shreds of fabric of something bigger, something reader would have to guess at and never find out.

However, the language of the writing is quite interesting. It is colourful, flowing, poetic and psychodelic in places. Even the fact that most stories are not happy tellings was smoothed over by the turn of the words.

Interesting read for a certain time and place.

Pure Hollywood is an anthology of unrelated short stories. Short stories are difficult to write and this collection missed the mark. The stories felt incomplete, more like vignettes. They meandered without getting anywhere. Often, it seemed like the audience was coming into the middle of a story, and got stuck there - no satisfaction from learning what brought the character to that moment and no defined ending.
While there were plenty of well-crafted, pretty sentences, I ultimately felt let down by the collection.

Not for me. Short stories on Hollywood exploring different relationships in this overrated town. Melancholy but not Jackie Collins.

A collection of several short stories, Pure Hollywood can’t be put into words. It’s explosive and still, perplexing and clear, it’s a fusion of literary flavors that evoke a string of emotions.

Each story has its unique plot line, some of love and pain, some of hope and longing, but there is always something deeper there and also darker. Hollywood is a place and an umbrella that unites the characters, it’s a symbol of what they are and eventually of what they become.

It offers a different angle, one that you don’t see often in novels. The fact that it’s a collection of stories contributes to its richness and better allows for the layers to slowly unfold. The language is undoubtedly artful and pours down the page.

I have kindly received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Grove Press in exchange of a fair review.

I was given only a few short pages to get to know the character/s, but get to know them I did. If you are a short story fan, than this is a book you will be happy that you pick up.

My thanks to netgalley and Grove Atlantic for this advanced readers copy.

I enjoyed these short stories. The language was beautiful and the characters quirky and not typical. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't feel the need to relate to the characters or the situations described in a book and gives a chance in living by proxy a totally different reality.

Pure Hollywood
The story of a 28-year-old actress, Mimi married to a 69-year-old businessman Arnie. Arnie dies of a heart attack and Mimi finds herself in midst of a chaos, created by her own heart. She has difficulty coping up with Arnie’S death. The story also exploits the complicated and almost intimate relationship which she shares with her brother. Mimi tries to revisit her past but faces strange situations which push her further into the darkness.

The Hedges
Dick and Lolly are on a vacation with their two-year-old son. But all is not well. Jonathan stays sick most of the time and Lolly is a terrible mother. She complains about everything and only cares about herself. Dick, on the other hand, tries really hard to be a father and a husband. This is a tragic story written along extremely simple and bland lines. I was surprised by the plot twist and the sudden realization that the situation just went south.

Species of special concern
Nancy cork, a woman passionate about a multitude of things such as the accordion, dogs and her plants-which mean the world to her. Present day scenario-Nancy is bedridden and her husband Cork, tries to take care of plants just like she used to. He is loving, caring and doesn’t want a life without her. But that’s not a choice he can make.

He was ready and however hesitantly he might have added to go back to Boston, he was ready but for the going back itself.The return trip meant driving away in the dark, well before dawn, so as not to see what he was leaving behind in Maine, which was his garden, a pride, a comfort, a habit—an obsession.

A Happy Rural Seat of Various View: Lucinda’s Garden
Nick and Pie are newly married. They are happy together, or at least that’s what they claim until one day Pie is missing and no one has any clue about her whereabouts. A short story about love, loss and a mysterious man.

The Duchess of Albany
Grieving over her dead husband, the protagonist finds it hard to live with her old, pet dog ‘Pink’. she has a constant fear resonating around her, a fear of outliving everyone. Her children, twins, haven’t visited her in years and they call her once in a while, only to ask her to stop living. But ‘Pink’ is her companion now, in sickness and in health and she doesn’t want to lose him, but on some days, she wants him dead.

Family Man
Mass stands by the window of his cottage and revisits the hard days of the past, and compares it with the life he has built for himself, This is more of a passing thought rather than a story.

Where you live, When you need me?
The story of Ella and murdered babies. I have no idea what happened in between.

Burst Pods, Gone-By, Tangled Aster

And that's where I gave up

The most distinct feature of the author’s writing is the bland way she presents her facts. There’s no engagement with the characters. even if you thought you did, the ending is so flat that it’s very difficult to imagine the complex situations and events. This happens with every story in this anthology. The plots are extremely unpredictable and there’s no justification for anything. Each story looks likes they have been abruptly taken out of the respective characters lives.

This particular bunch is so immature, and childish. I love the author’s knack for creating usual plot twists, and I would definitely read something else by the author before passing a verdict on her or her work. But this collection was more of a drunk teenager trying to write. There’s no beginning, and there’s certainly no conclusion to the stories.

This short story collection was extremely hard to get through. I appreciate the author's poetic and beautiful language, but it made the stories complicated and difficult to follow (for me.)

2.5 stars

Beautifully written collection of stories, however I didn't feel any connection with the characters. I found her writing style a bit difficult to understand - I didn't understand or sympathize with any of the characters. However, Schutt's use of imagery is excellent, if heavily poetic.

Rating 2/5
Christine Schutt is incredibly talented, these stories read like poetry, the authors writing style is exquisite.
This is the first book I have read by Christine Schutt; the beautiful cover and blurb drew me in. I found it hard to get into the stories, and as a result this took me a little longer to read. I did finish the book and can say that the skilful poetic writing style continued throughout, however at points I did find the stories hard to follow. The stories although exploring different topics did flow and the sequence they were included in worked well, longer stories may have allowed for better character development.
Overall, this is a beautifully written collection of stories, it explores a range of topics and scenarios. Christine is no doubt talented and I will be interested to see future works by this author.

3.5★ rounded up to 4

“His daughter hoped something would happen and it did in the shape of a man blued by symbols that crinkled when he tensed his arms.”

And of course, a tattooed fella isn’t quite the change that Dad was hoping for. Schutt has a nice way with words and has created some interesting characters, from this girl to a crazy lady in the desert, to a mother who just can’t be bothered with the nuisance of having a toddler.

“But the cost of things did not interest Lolly. What she wanted to know was how long did motherhood last?”

She has NO idea! And it doesn’t auger well for the family’s future.

A colourful character is Bob Cork, who meets the dancing challenge.
“. . . the Cajun-style rhythm two-step, newer to the repertoire, was a challenge, but Bob Cork liked to say, ’It ain’t whatcha do, it’s the way that you do it,’ a platitude that left him a lot of room on the dance floor.”

An older woman mourns the loss of her husband, while another is stumbling home in the dark, slightly the worse for wear with drink and tripping into a ditch. I love Schutt’s description here.

“. . . the ditch, which isn’t a ditch so much as a broad rut filled with fallen leaves and broken branches, fieldstone and mist rising over a landscape pieced as quaintly as a quilt, and the lady from Connecticut, a loose stitch in it.”

I like the writing, I like the characters, and some of the stories I enjoyed very much. There were a few that felt unfinished or incomplete. I find that hard to explain, since short stories are, by definition, short. But I like ones that give me a sense of what came before and a feeling for what might come after. Without that, I don’t care.

Schutt is a prize-winning author and was nominated in the past for the Pulitzer Prize, so now I must hunt down her other work to see why. I enjoyed these, but not enough to suggest a prize.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.

This is due out in March.