A big, splashy novel about a little, splashy subject: Charlie
Chaplin, the original movie star.Gold (Carter Beats the
Devil<\i>, 2001) takes on much more than the Little Tramp,
however. His narrative is set against the broad canvas of the First
World War era, with appropriately attendant surrealist moments, as
when the German Kaiser marvels at a Wild West show staged by one
Duncan Cody, then worries that he will one day have to be fighting
these savage Americans, only to be consoled, "Er ist
<\i>nicht Buffalo Bill." <\i>Chaplin, for his part,
enjoys the occasional quiet getaway, which nearly earns him a
drowning off the wild coast of Northern California but instead
results in the acquaintanceship of some fine but never ordinary
folk, all of whose stories intertwine with his and wander even
farther afield - among other destinations, to northern Russia,
where an American expeditionary force landed after the Bolsheviks
came to power, ostensibly to secure American materiel but in fact
to fight the Reds on their home turf. ("Why am I here?" ponders one
soldier, a movie buff. "Where am I? And why do we have overcoats? I
am depressed.") Gold hits a promising scenario with that
adventurist debacle, but he doesn't quite work it for all it's
worth, since his story requires travel elsewhere while Chaplin
attempts to make a doomed film called, yes, Sunnyside<\i> -
doomed because, then as always, the suits got in the way. ("The
kingpins of the industry, having taken the measure of the
situation, finally brought their plans to fruition, with the result
of stopping Charlie Chaplin dead in his tracks.") Gold's tale
strains from overreach now and again, but that is the price one
pays for such ambition - and this is an ambitious, very
well-written book full of memorable moments, not least of them
starring Rin Tin Tin.Historical but not didactic, in the manner of
the master of the genre, E.L. Doctorow, and more completely
realized than Gold's debut. (Kirkus Reviews)
From the author of CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL comes a panoramic tale of
power and stardom, ambition and dreams that reaches from California
in 1916 to the battlefields of France and the icy wastes of
northern Russia. At the heart of its enthralling cast of characters
- which includes a thieving Girl Scout, Mary Pickford, a
charismatic British general and even the dog Rin Tin Tin - lies the
troubled genius that was Charlie Chaplin. Here America debuts on
the world stage in the Great War, Hollywood blossoms into a global
phenomenon, and the cult of celebrity is born. Here, in a novel as
darkly comic as it is thrilling, the modern age dawns.
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