The Diamond Lane

By Karen Karbo

Book Overview

Reluctantly back home in L.A. after 16 years in Africa, documentary filmmaker Mouse FitzHenry longs for the harsh, teeming jungle life her lens took in so lovingly. Wrenched Stateside by a family emergency, with her longtime boyfriend/collaborator in tow, Mouse is instantly beleaguered by a past she'd leapt continents to escape. In this rollicking novel, Karbo explores familiar subjects -- the phony glitz of Hollywood, the fairy tale lure of love and marriage -- with precision, compassion, and humor. Mouse's paramour, Tony, a Brit who calls her "poppet," adores L.A. and all that it can do for him and his screenplay. Mouse, meanwhile, caving in to maternal pressure, agrees to marry Tony and then proceeds, with the help of an old flame, to film around her unwitting fianc a documentary on the entire process of their betrothal called Wedding March. A flawless, page-turning story emerges as Mouse and Tony manage -- often with hilarious subterfuge -- to keep their projects secret from one another. With its laugh-aloud moments and a cast of brilliantly drawn characters, this is a tale to treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 098936044X
• ISBN13: 9780989360449
• Release Date: September 2014
• Publisher: Hawthorne Books
• Length: 422 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

More people should read this!

It makes me so sad that there are no reviews of this book. It's by far one of the funniest books I have ever read, and is a fantastic satire of Hollywood life and film making. The writing in it is fun to read you'll wish the book would never end. Mimi and Mouse are two sisters who don't get along very well. Mostly this is because Mimi married a man (Ivan) that Mouse had her first crush on, who she later divorced (unfortunately before he won the Oscar for best documentary.) This caused Mouse to move to Africa and make documentaries there with a large British man named Tony, who wants to write screenplays. Years and years pass, and Mimi and Mouse's mom gets brained on the head by a ceiling fan while in a fancy restaurant and has to have brain surgery. Mimi, thinking her mother is dying, calls Mouse and tells her to come home. Once home in LA, Mouse, who thinks her mother is dying, promises to marry Tony to make her mother happy, even though she has a fear of commitment. She finally gets around the wedding anxiety by planning to make a documentary of her own wedding with Ivan, Mimi's ex-husband who's Mouse is sort of in love with. Meanwhile Tony is writing a screenplay (and selling it) about how he and Mouse met. Only, unknown to Mouse it involves sports illustrated models. Hollywood values, sisterhood, and filmmaking are all tested in this wonderful novel which shows the lengths people will go to get what they want, be that an acting job, a screenplay contract, or a showing of a movie. I can't say this enough, read the book! Even if it does make fun of Oregon I love it, and I can't believe it's out of print.

More people should read this!

It makes me so sad that there are no reviews of this book. It's by far one of the funniest books I have ever read, and is a fantastic satire of Hollywood life and film making. The writing in it is fun to read you'll wish the book would never end. Mimi and Mouse are two sisters who don't get along very well. Mostly this is because Mimi married a man (Ivan) that Mouse had her first crush on, who she later divorced (unfortunately before he won the Oscar for best documentary.) This caused Mouse to move to Africa and make documentaries there with a large British man named Tony, who wants to write screenplays. Years and years pass, and Mimi and Mouse's mom gets brained on the head by a ceiling fan while in a fancy restaurant and has to have brain surgery. Mimi, thinking her mother is dying, calls Mouse and tells her to come home. One home in LA, Mouse, who thinks her mother is dying, promises to marry Tony to make her mother happy, even though she has a fear of commitment. She finally gets around the wedding anxiety by planning to make a documentary of her own wedding with Ivan, Mimi's ex-husband who's Mouse is sort of in love with. Meanwhile Tony is writing a screenplay (and selling it) about how he and Mouse met. Only, it involves sports illustrated models. Hollywood values, sisterhood, and filmmaking are all tested in this wonderful novel which shows the lengths people will go to get what they want, be that an acting job, a screenplay contract, or a showing of a movie. I can't say this enough, read the book! Even if it does make fun of Oregon I love it, and I can't believe it's out of print.