"I’m pleased to say there is much joy to be found in A Star Is Born. On the surface, it follows the madcap japes of a woman who truly lives in a universe of her own making, and the effect coming into that world has on an outsider is incredibly hilarious to read. Underneath that hilarious veneer is a novel about acceptance; acceptance of oneself, and acceptance of one’s circumstances, and one’s own power to change them.

Lane has written an incredibly enjoyable, and universal story of love, loss, acceptance, and overcoming adversity, which I would highly recommend if you’re looking for some light relief with an added sprinkling of heart."

Read my review in full at whatjamesread.com

Byron Lane's debut novel, A Star is Bored, is a funny and poignant look into the life of a celebrity’s personal assistant.

Charlie hates his life. He hates his job as a news writer working the graveyard shift, he hates his father, he even hates the men he’s been having unsafe sex with. He’s entertained suicide but he lacks concrete plans and follow-through.

But his life changes with the zaniest job interview of his life, to be the personal assistant to Kathi Kannon, iconic star of a classic sci-fi movie, best-selling author, and member of Hollywood royalty—her mother, famed actress Gracie Gold, lives on her estate. Kathi is also a (sometimes recovering) drug addict who has manic episodes.

The job becomes all-consuming for Charlie, a stressful yet immensely satisfying adventure once he gets the hang of it. Kathi is needy and demanding and erratic and is, at times, a danger to herself and her reputation, but she truly cares about Charlie and helps him find his self-esteem.

Between spontaneous trips to go see the aurora borealis and rescuing her from embarrassing faux pas with other celebs, Charlie gets immersed in the world of the celebrity assistant, learning the summits and pitfalls that his compatriots have experienced.

When you spend your whole life propping someone up and being at their beck and call, when do you live? Are your needs ever front and center? Charlie has to decide what path he should take in order to find real satisfaction.

This is a zany, wild, heartfelt book. Byron Lane was Carrie Fisher’s assistant so you know he knows of what he writes—and you can’t help but wonder just how much of Kathi’s behavior was inspired by true events. (I adored Carrie Fisher so I was hooked.)

After a while, Kathi’s manic nature gets a little hard to take, but that’s when the heart of the book kicked in. This was a fun read if you’re a fan of the crazy lives of celebrities.

NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company provided an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The book publishes July 28.

A Star is Bored is a bittersweet story of love and loyalty between friends. It's a story of self-discovery and growth. And, in my personal opinion, it's a love letter to Carrie Fisher. I hope Lane writes more books soon. I highly recommend!

Mostly Very Funny, But Sometimes Very Tedious

The problem with a roman a clef is that if you like parts and are annoyed by parts you don't know whether to praise/blame the real people it's based on or the author or the author's "fictional" characters. The author, Byron Lane, was Carrie Fisher's personal assistant. That relationship is basically what the book is about, or is built around. The book is told in the first person by Kathi Kannon's personal assistant, Charlie; Kannon is obviously modeled on Fisher. So far so good. One assumes that the narrator, Charlie, is modeled to some degree on Lane. Not so good.

The character Kathy Kannon is smart, funny, lonely, unpredictable, eccentric in the extreme, perceptive, good hearted, irreverent, complex, and pretty much everything you would want in a fictional heroine, and everything you suspect or hope the delightful and complex Carrie Fisher was. Whenever she is on the page the book lights up. The Charlie character may or may not be closely based on the author Byron Lane. I don't know Byron Lane from Adam, although his bio and credits suggest he's an accomplished writer/actor/playwright. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Charlie, Lane's avatar/fictional roman a clef self, spends most of the book as a whinging, overly dramatic, self-obsessed, sad sack. When he is on the page we get neurosis, childhood pain, and an almost perversely prideful celebration of his own lameness.

So, what do you do with that? On the one hand almost everything the Kannon character does and says is gold. Set pieces about L.A., the "business", being a personal assistant, celebrity lifestyle, and so on, is edgy and sharp. But pretty much everything about Charlie is tedious. If Lane can write Kannon as well as he did then Lane wrote Charlie the way he did on purpose. Why? I don't know. I guess you could insert some generational stereotyping and trash talk here, but what's the point. For what it's worth I ended up just reading all of the Kannon parts, read everything with secondary characters, skimmed Charlie's mopey tales of woe, and generally enjoyed myself. Maybe that's enough. Because Kannon is a marvelous character.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

I've been excited about this book since I first heard about it, and it did not disappoint. The characters sucked you into the story and the story kept you turning pages as fast as you could. I devoured it in a day. I loved it.

As a wholeI enjoyed this book. I didn't find it riotously funny and there were parts when the famous Kathi Kannon said "I'm bored.", I had to concur. It, is eye opening.