Richard Cottar is a movie director. His films have brought him critical acclaim. He is about to start a new movie, a biography of the German Jewish philosopher, Walter Benjamin. Benjamin fled Germany with the rise of the Nazi's, living in several locations such as Ibiza, Nice and Paris. He fled France as the Nazi's conquered it, crossing the French-Spanish border with a visa to the United States. But although the town they entered was supposed to be neutral, Benjamin's group was told upon arrival that they would be turned over to the Germans the next day. Benjamin committed suicide.
As Richard is about to start work, he is introduced to a young star, Alex. While he knows Alex is probably too young to portray Benjamin, Richard is always thinking ahead to the next movie and the one after that so is interested in getting to know Alex. What he doesn't expect is the immediate bond that the two of them encounter despite Richard being more than a quarter of a century older. He casts Alex as his star and as the two men's friendship deepens, Richard questions if he is in love with Alex.

The book then abruptly moves to his wife's story. Joanna Cottar had always been Richard's producer. Richard dies and Joanna decides to make his film after his death to honor his vision. She develops her own relationship with Alex, leaving the reader to wonder if Alex is a chameleon who becomes whatever the other person needs to see.

I listened to this novel and the narrators were perfect. There was both a male and female narrator and they told Richard's and Joanna's story of their marriage and their relationships with Alex in a slow, perceptive manner. One of the morals of the novel is that we fall in love with a person not so much a gender and we could change the gender of those we are attracted to as our life circumstances change. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Beautifully written and works wonderfully on audiobook.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback.

A very interesting read. I really enjoyed the first part in the voice of Richard. I believe it benefited from being written in the first person. When the narrative changes to the third person it losses a bit. I did not expect the change and the twist. Relationships are complicated and this is a novel about relationships. I found the use of Walter Benjamin as a character in the story intriguing and successfully done. I am now curious about learning more about Benjamin. Thank you to NetGalley and ECW Press Audio for the advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately for fans of Jean McNeil, I can’t give a great--or even complete--review of Day For Night because I got bored and did not finish. I’ve been having some weird brain days lately so I hardly expected anything to hold my attention for very long and it just so happens that trying to force myself into a book when I’m not emotionally invested is just as bad as lying just to keep my DNF list as short as possible. I may revisit the book when I’m in a better headspace, but this is as honest a review as I can manage at this time.

This was well written, with some interesting and insightful observations. Unfortunately, I struggled to connect with the characters and it was a little confusing in places. The topic of Brexit is now rather outdated so I found many parts of the story uninteresting and irrelevant. I listened to the audio version and narration was good.

DNF at 50% -- This just isn't for me at all. The narrator is super pretentious, which is a super unlikable quality for me. The book is also very real-world politics heavy which just isn't what I look for in books, no matter how much I agree with what's being said. However I did enjoy the narrator for this audiobook, which is why I'm rating 2 stars instead of one.