Sigh. This might be most appreciated by those with an interest in and knowledge of Shakespeare as his work looms large over the novel. Mona, an actress who is set to play Cleopatra, essentially runs away from Thanksgiving with her family and wanders New York, meeting all sorts of interesting people. Unfortunately, the run up to her swan out the door is a tangle of me-too behavior from Milton the director of her theater company and arguments from her father in law about Shakespeare. Mona is mourning her sister and struggling with her niece, who she feels betrayed her by giving an honest interview about her own experience with Milton. Oh and she's taking her sister's pain meds. It's her musing about her sister that I found most relatable. I've liked Berlinski's work in the past but this was a struggle for me. It didn't add any new wrinkles to the me-too novel and I know that even though I've read a lot of his work, I missed much of the points about Shakespeare (for example, I had to google who is Old Swallow who is referred to but not identified). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

Mona is a well-known stage actress in NYC. One Thanksgiving she leaves her family to walk to the home of her former director/mentor who has been ousted from the acting world by the #MeToo movement. This book was interesting at times but was overall a mess and needed a lot of additional editing. I couldn't help thinking that white male writers who have written a previous book that garnered award buzz don't have to do much to get subsequent books published.

This book started out great, but unfortunately it failed to keep my attention. Something about the writing style felt clunky and disjointed. The overall story was interesting, but I just couldn't stand the protagonist family or friends. This book left me unsatisfied.

Mona’s a middle aged actress, living with her husband in NYC. She’s preparing to play the part of Shakespeare’s Cleopatra, and thinking about former theater director Milton Katz, a mentor of sorts. It’s Thanksgiving and Mona steps out with her dog, Barney, to go buy some parsley needed for the holiday meal.

But Mona’s soul has other plans - she wanders around the city, finally ending up at an old friend’s house where a Thanksgiving party is taking place. This novel is sometimes in the present moment and sometimes there are flashbacks of the past. The reader learns about Mona as a person but also about the other people who loom large in her life - Milton, her husband, Phil, and son, Aaron, as well as her in-laws, niece and her old theater friends.

The most heartfelt parts of the novel are when Mona reflects on her relationship with her sister, Zahra. Zarah has recently passed away from cancer, and this loss is eating at Mona’s soul, as much as she tries to hide it. Her insecurities come to light, despite her public persona of being cool, calm, and collected. She explores her past and reckons with her feelings on all of the topics that swirl around her life.

I liked this novel. The characters became well developed and complex as the story moved forward. No one is all good, or all evil. There are lots of shades of gray. The theater references probably went over my head but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I liked that even Barney the dog had his own preferences and desires, his own personality. The complex relationships explored seemed to be crafted lovingly by the author, who really brought all of the characters to life.

Mona Acts Out is not exactly what I expected, and in the end I found it kind of tedious and felt that it would have worked better as a short story.

Mona is a middle-aged actress preparing for the role of a lifetime, Cleopatra, as she is going through a personal crisis in her marriage with boring doctor Phil. The theater company where she got her start is a cultish organization run by a complicated man named Milton Katz who believes in the tired maxim that abuse and sexual impropriety is the path to creating great artists. Milton, who is in his 80s now and suffering the effects of aging, is the subject of a Me Too era whistleblower complaint from women in his company who accused him of sexual misconduct.

Mona feels suffocated by Phil's family, which includes her father-in-law who is consumed by an obsession with the conspiracy theory that Shakespeare didn't really write those plays, as she is still grieving her sister who died of cancer, on a night when they are hosting Thanksgiving dinner.

Stoned and delirious, she runs away with her pet beagle in pursuit of parsley. She soon forgets the parsley and wanders around Manhattan, reminiscing about the good old days in her theatrical career and pondering her marriage to Phil. She winds up at a Starbucks, then at her old castmate's party, where she creates a scene by throwing a dog bone. This woman was one of the most prominent critics of Milton's misconduct, who had some talent but felt her life was ruined by her affair with him and Mona's defense of him. She then ends up at Milton's house, where she confronts the demons of their past and finds him deteroriating but still the glue that holds them together.

Mona and Milton reminded me a bit too much of the dynamic of the Morning Show - a bit stereotypical, though characters like those were common in the art world before Me Too.

I was expecting this to be more of a family story where Mona is dealing with a crumbling marriage and finding her voice after slinking into the female invisibility of middle age. Instead she just kind of accepts that life will be invisible and boring from now on and she has to make her peace with it after a very mild outburst, which I found to be a very deflating message. I think a female author would have handled the notion of female rage better. Instead Mona was the mild-mannered wife who's really an addict who realizes she loves her husband. I also hardly even realized she was a mother to a brooding teenage son, so little did her motherhood factor into her tedious soul searching.

The cast of colorful characters was the best part of this book, and I liked how it was a beautiful love letter to New York and the New York theater scene. But it wasn't the powerful piece of women's fiction that I was expecting and I found that disappointing. Mona had so much potential to be a more interesting character and instead it was a novel without much happening except her wandering the city all night and reflecting on her past.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This novel follows Mona, a Manhattan actress who is about to tackle the role of Cleopatra—which she expects to be her last starring role—as she escapes her family on Thanksgiving day and walks to Brooklyn to see her former mentor, Milton. While she literally walks, she also figuratively takes a walk down memory lane, reminiscing on her time in the theater company of which she has been a part since her late twenties, and of which Milton is the disgraced former director, taken down by a piece in the Times accusing him of sexual harassment. I was absolutely immersed in the setting of this novel: the theater world in New York City. If you’re looking for a book with a lot of plot, this isn’t it; instead, it’s a quiet meditation on regret, art, life, relationships, and how complicated it all is. While Mona is the main character, we also spend brief interludes inside the minds of other characters—including, charmingly, her dog Barney—and I found each character to be insightful. I hope this book finds an audience because I found it to be really beautiful.

This was a very fun and interesting read for me! The synopsis described a woman who was spending thanksgiving with her family in manhattan and ends up going on a spontaneous, need to escape, adventure. So I decided to start it myself when my family happened to be in manhattan on vacation with my own family at thanksgiving. It follows the protagonist, Mona over the course of 24 hours, but most the book takes place in unique stories in the past. Each character seemed very well constructed and their experiences so human. I felt like I saw myself and my own worries and concerns about my life in each of the characters which always adds to my reading experience. I also like the small snippets that are told by her dogs perspective, a beagle who experiences the world through and incredibly strong sense of smell. This book is incredibly witty, humorous and just real, I will absolutely recommend this book and keep an eye out for more from this author!

I enjoyed the way this was written, and was amused by much of it. My issue is that there are too many insider references to the acting world that, as someone outside of it, went over my head. That said, I believe this will have a lot of appeal for people who “get it.” Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just like word vomit. Hated the main character and there was nothing redeeming at all in the book. Also just felt like it dragged.

I really tried to get through this book, but I found I just was not interested enough in the main character. I also found that there was too much "inside Shakespeare" to be appealing to the general reader. The references to how individual plays have been conceived and produced by contemporary theater directors was too niche to people in the theater world. I wish those sections were reduced.

This book is so lovely and New York-y in the best way. It reminded me a bit of Lilian Boxfish Takes a Walk and made me crave going out into the city for a long walk. It folds in other themes as well, but I just loved the dramatics and general vibe of Mona.

A well-crafted novel that grabs you from the beginning but unfortunately drags on a bit too long. It would be a five star read if it was wrapped up a little tighter.

A delightful, insightful, and critical view into the world of theater, New York City, and one woman’s reflection on her life as she enters her later years. Mona, one of the star performers in a Shakespearean troupe, struggles to reconcile her life as she lived it and the modern criticism of the mores of that time. The story asks, how will Mona reconcile her truth and experience while acknowledging that times have changed and she may be left behind if she does not change with them? Humorous, reflective, and insightful; I enjoyed taking the journey with Mona.

A thank you to W.W. Morton for an advanced readers copy.

I did not finish this book and will not rate anywhere outside of NetGalley. I just could not get into it. I may try it again in the future.