I read and liked Marra's powerful A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. Thus, I was quite pleased to receive an advance copy of this, his latest book. BUT. I found this book numbing, looong, and boring. I was never engaged and could have walked away at any time, I persevered--without payoff. It could have/should have been more--I was sorely disappointed.

The setting:
Maria Lagana, leaves Mussolini's Italy to reinvent herself and survive. She moves to Los Angeles with her mother "...after a childhood transgression leads to her father's arrest. Fifteen years later, on the eve of America's entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart ... Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European émigrés: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father's past threatens Maria's carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her father's fate--and her own."

Melodramatic? Perhaps. But there's McCarthyism, fascism, racism, sexism, anti-foreigners [many emigres/refugees] populating 1940s Hollywood--all real. The many, many descriptions where Hollywood sets were built to mimic/stand in for battles/propaganda were interesting [as were some of the other Hollywood details], but...

And, though many of the characters were well drawn {Maria, Artie, Ned, Vincent, Eddie [to name a few!], I wasn't invested in any of them.

I enjoyed the multiple flashes of humor and often wonderful descriptions:

"watching a pigeon autograph the windshield of her boss's new convertible"
"compact opulence of her build"
"Despite their love of cigarettes, physical inertia, and bootlegged grappa of questionalbe potabily, the great-aunts exuded immortality."
"coniferous chill transmitted across thousands of miles"

but the prose was not enough to sustain me.

In the distinct minority of readers. This book did nothing for me. And ultimately, the ending too pat.

We follow a plethora of cahracters from different countries during WWII and how they have to make new lives in the US. We follow specially Maria after something terrible happens to her father and she escapes to the US with her mom and ends up working at a movie production company.

This book really shines in its characters and their development. It's such a pleasure to follow all of them and to go along while they are trying to make new lives for themselves, trying to be happy and to have a little piece in their lives. The characters feel so alive and they are all so compelling and real; all of them have qualities and shortcomings and dreams they want to fulfill. Even a side character is really developed and layered and I wanted to know everything that happened and was going to happen to them. My favorite is Maria, but all of them shone through. There isn't a lot of unexpected twists and turns in the story but following along with these characters and their thoughts was enough for me. I liked how we follow the story manly through immigrant eyes, not only the plot points surrounding WWII but also life as an immigrant in the US especially from specific nations.

I really liked the narrator voice; there was a wit to the narration that really resonated with me, making the story "fun" (as fun as it can be in a WWII novel).

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

Mercury Pictures Presents is a wild ride through 1930’s and 1940’s Hollywood and Italy. I was privileged to read an advance copy through Net Gallery, and it was a fun read for someone who enjoys historical fiction. I learned a lot about that era of which thought I had a fair understanding. Marra packs a lot of information in his rapid fire descriptions of life at that time. The characters are quirky, not without their faults, but draw our sympathy and empathy. He highlights issues, such as discrimination and fake news, that may have been swept under the rug at the time, but are topical today. The story is largely about an ambitious young Italian-American woman, who immigrated to the US as a young girl with her mother when her father had fallen into political disfavor. They make their way to Los Angeles, where our heroine grows up and becomes a talented, though under-recognized, movie producer with a small film company that lands some big contracts from the War Department for propaganda movies. We see her dealing with issues at work, at home and with her memories of her father in Italy, all while history marches on. A witty and entertaining book.

Mercury Pictures, run by brothers Artie and Ned Feldman, is in financial straits. Maria Lagana,, emigre from Italy, is an associate producer who rarely gets credit for her input. The company’s staff is populated with other talented emigres considered “alien residents” when the U.S. declares war after Pearl Harbor. Along with this new classification comes a demand for technical films and feature movies revolving around military combat and dangerous enemies. Ironically the only American-born talented actor is of Chinese descent forced to play Japanese villains. Talent is either wasted or unappreciated among the film executives; the government is weighing heavily against non-citizens, enforcing curfews, travel restrictions, and in the worst cases internment camps. Anthony Marra’s characters are engaging and there is much to learn from their stories; this reader, however, had difficulty at times following the frequent changes and numerous additions. Many questions arise.

In 1940 World War II had already begun in Europe, and though the US wasn't in the war yet, it was having a major effect on the movie business. Most European countries weren't accepting American films because the were busy filling the movie houses with their own home produced propaganda. Mercury was begun by two brothers had started the company and made their money with dubbed silent pictures. Though they never rose to the level of the "Big" studios, they made a fine living making B-pictures and shipping them overseas.

Maria Lagana has to leave fascist Italy in 1925 because her father has been convicted of "Anti-fascist leanings" and sent off to a closed city is southern Italy. Maria is partially to blame for her father being in jail, and it haunts her over the next fifteen years. At this point (1940) Maria has worked her way up to a position where she is in charge of all the movie script for Mercury Pictures. The company has employed many emigrants who worked in European studios and it's Maria job to turn their scripts into something the Brothers can film and make money from.

Like almost everyone in Hollywood, what she really wants to do is direct. When she finally does, the studio uses the name John Doe for everyone in and on the picture so they don't have to give any the emigrants (some who are 'wanted' back home) screen credit. Mercury's main problem is that unlike the "Major" studios they don't have a network of theaters to show their movies, and the studio is slowly going broke.

Interspersed with the story of the problems of the Studio, we are given a history of the Brothers and how they 'built' Mercury, and their lives in America as immigrants. We also learn how Maria has been able to get to her position as an "Associate Producer" at Mercury and how she has dealt with the incarceration of her father over all these years.

It's an interesting story and spends just enough time addressing the anti-semetism and racism in America between the two world wars.

Unfortunately I could not get into this story. It seemed very broken and did not flow. I could not keep events or characters straight. They just did not reach out to me. I kept going back and forth through the book but just could not keep things together.

I thank Net Galley for letting me give this book a try. Although it was not for me, I am sure some people love it.

I picked this book up because I recognized the author from earlier books. With the cover Mercuryt Pictures Presents, I thought it would be a story about the movie studio and the movie business. And it was to an extent. Regardless of what I expected (I should have read the blurb so I would have known - duh), the story was mostly about people who were cast together during World War II and their circumstances. Mostly about Maria Lagana, who left Italy during Mussolini's rule and her father's prison interment, and came to Los Angeles with her mother. Maria has a huge amount of guilt for her actions that caused her father's arrest.

My favorite parts of the book were Nico Piccone's story and Anna, the miniaturist's story.

I'm seeing a lot of five-star reviews and I'm sure the critics will love this book. Unfortunately, I can only give it three. The writing is beautiful and lyrical and the stories of the people who worked at Mercury Pictures were interesting. However, mostly I was bored and wanted the book to end. There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary padding that to me, seemed irrelevant.

Thanks to Random House, Hogarth through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on August 2, 2022.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. This was a historical fiction and I tried several times to get into it but couldn't. I didn't finish this novel. The story and characters did not draw me in.

Not remotely a womb-to-tomb story about Maria, a woman emigre from Italy at a young age, now grown, working at Mercury Pictures—this story I would say actually drives to the heart of the entire cast of characters. Maria, certainly most predominate for several reasons. A nexus point, or confluence, rather than Mercury Pictures itself. From her axis, we delve into other immigrant stories and through them, touch on some uncomfortable truths about America and the film industry itself. As it functions, as it malfunctions, and what purpose and responsibility it ought to have.

The prose work is stand-out work. It is a chameleon that changes its stripes for the entire cast, as the story often digresses into movie-like vignettes that bleed the characters on the page in short order. We return to the “present”, usually around 1942, and pick up a semblance of a plot, but not the stand-out quality of the fiction by any means. I had no idea where this was going any of the time pretty much and was loving every second. It’s about the people and their stories. But it is also about the way their story is told. The prose is absolutely evocative of cinema at the time and wholly, in a meta way, expressly uninterested in verisimilitude, but in telling a Hollywood story that has been coopted to portray the immigrant story in a way that feels ageless, empathetic, and more real than Real.

Everything is buttoned up perfectly. There is the right amount of specificity to make you care about absolutely everything and everyone and even go into some minutia of movie magic, and politics, and interrogate the role of propaganda. There aren’t any easy answers. It’s often quotable because the characters are larger-than-life. Stories untold are told so well they spring off the page. And all the while with such control you never really know what the plot is until the knots get tied up. It doesn’t tell you to want to think of what to feel. It is just really great storytelling. I absolutely hope it gets nominated for awards because it is an award book.

Mercury Pictures is a second-tier Hollywood studio specializing in B-movies. This book is like a B-movie, in that it doesn’t have pretensions to being great art; its purpose is to entertain, with stories bathed in feelings. Written in a style straight out of 1930s movies, it’s full of wisecracks, hardboiled patter, and a bit of schmaltz.

The main action of the story revolves around three characters. Artie Feldman is, along with his despised twin brother Ned, the founder of Mercury Pictures. Artie is a constant worrier, soothed by his longtime assistant, Maria Lagana. Maria and her mother fled fascist Italy, having to leave Maria’s lawyer father behind because of his arrest for anti-fascist activity. Maria burns with ambition to become a success—and to be reunited with her father. The third main character is Nino, who became like a son to Maria’s father in the village where prisoners were required to live. Nino has managed to escape Italy on a false passport and makes his way to Mercury Pictures.

The story plays out from the late 1930s to a bit after the end of World War II. Artie and Maria have to battle America Firsters and censors, and once the attack at Pearl Harbor happens, pivot to making war propaganda films. Their studio fills with refugees from Hitler’s conquest of Europe whose particular skills play a part in some of the more unusual parts of Allies’ war effort.

Vivid characters, sense of time and place, and entertaining storytelling made this book fly by for me.

Incredibly thought provoking novel this is here. His characters are so well drawn out, that I truly felt like I was living the narrative alongside them. The writing is beautiful, and evocative and makes the pages fly, Can't wait to sell this!

Great book. This is not normally something I would have picked up but I appreciated the story. The author does a flawless job of incorporating descriptives within the story. I was in awe of the way certain instances were narrated. They added so much depth to the story and inticed you to read on. I loved how you got to see Maria grow from begining in her hometown to moving to America. Her family endured so many hardships and Maria overcame them to become a successfull woman employed with Mercury. I loved the grit of her character and how she was confident and brave enough to demand fairness. This is a great selection for anyone who is interested in historical films or historical fiction with strong characters.

This was a very glamorous read, not quite Rules of Civility or Evelyn Hugo, but definitely a circulatable title.

This is the first Anthony Marra book that I have read, and I really appreciated his writing. His story weaves between Hollywood and Europe in the 1940s. His characters are well developed and very interesting, with lives that encompass the drama of the times. The combination of the Hollywood scene and the history of the characters embodies almost all ethnic persuasions. This is a book that I will definitely read again and recommend to other readers of Historical fiction, as well as book clubs, as there is much discussion to be had after reading. I highly recommend this book and would like to thank Netgalley as well as Emani Glee for recommending this book and giving me an opportunity to preview in exchange for an honest review.

Mercury Pictures Presents is a wonderful mixture of pre-World War II Italy and Los Angeles, World War II in LA, and post-World War II. Anthony Marra vivdly depicts life in Italy under the Nazi's careful gaze, and flows seemingly into life in LA as resident aliens. These settings serve as a virtual backdrop for Maria and her life as a single, professional woman at an upstart moving picture company, while dealing with the implications of an Italian family in the US during World War II. With all of the plot twists and turns, one can see Maria and her view of Italy and Los Angeles. Well done, Mr. Marra. Well done.

The large cast surprised me and their stories blurred together a bit. But I loved the setting and the writing. I just wasn’t able to connect much.

Full review to come!

Mercury Pictures Presents is a block buster of a book filled with a cast of thousands! But don't worry about the number of characters because author Anthony Marra develops each one with infinite detail. Likewise, his beautiful, descriptive language fleshes out the numerous locations.

The first two character introduced are Maria Lagana and Artie Feldman. She fled Italy's Fascist government along with her mother leaving behind her imprisoned anti-Fascist lawyer father. She is currently Artie's second in command. Artie and his twin brother Ned escaped Silesia and anti-Jewish bigotry as youngsters and have become co-owners of Mercury Pictures. Family issues affect both Maria and Artie: Maria and her mother are not speaking; Artie and his brother hate each other and are embroiled in a power struggle for Mercury Pictures. Further complications ensue when Artie has to testify before the Senate regarding the movies he is making.

Marra paints an unapologetic picture of bigotry, ruthlessness, pursuing the American dream, resilience , guilt, family . propaganda and wartime versus peacetime life. There are humorous moments which underline the absurdities of life as well as tender, human interactions. The characters and the story line are so entertaining that this reader did not want the book to end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hogarth Press for the chance to read this enjoyable book.

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra is the first book I’ve read by him. I love historical fiction and the cover is gorgeous! For those reasons, I was excited to jump into this book. The characters and their backstories tended to blur together while reading. I was very interested in the main storyline with Maria and Mercury Pictures, but the sub plots were harder to follow. I did enjoy many parts of this book and there is some humor throughout.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to read this book having seen it on so many must-read lists for historical fiction. While the writing was very good, I had trouble connecting to do many different plotlines following so many individual characters. Overall, I found the book confusing and didn't really end up connecting with it.

Anthony Marra's "Mercury Pictures Presents," with its presentation of a movie studio around the time of World War II, is chiefly interesting for its evocation of that period in American history when the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings were in full swing and refugees from Europe were making their way to our shores. In particular it gives us a young Italian woman who has managed to install herself in an increasingly prominent role at the studio and readers are given to think she will figure prominently in the novel. Which she does, but interspersed enough with other characters, including one of the studio heads, to make for a fragmentation of the novel's force – to my mind, anyway. But along the way there are a trove of interesting or amusing sketches, as when a brothel madam pronounces a couple of policemen on her door to be "two Watsons looking for a Sherlock." Or when we're told that so many Italian soldiers were looking to surrender to the Allies at war's end that they they had to make appointments for when they could turn themselves in. Which makes for good, lively history, but as I say I think a tighter focus on one character in particular – the Italian woman, say – would make for a better novel.