I faced a couple of dilemmas with this post. Halfway through the book, I forgot it at a friends house and was without it for a few days (which was torture). When I got it back, I read like hell to finish it in time for Wednesday's post and was still unable to finish it until Thursday. I reached the second dilemma when my computer crashed. But 3 days and my moms computer later, I can finally write about Jennifer Niven's American Blonde.
American Blonde is about Velva Jean Hart, World War II hero and aspiring Nashville star. On the tail of her heroic experience as a war pilot, Velva Jean is offered a contract at MGM, Hollywoods biggest studio. Aiming to capitalize on her war hero fame, she is cast as Betsy Ross in the studio's Revolutionary War saga, Home of the Brave. Leaving behind her country home, Velva Jean travels to California and is welcomed by her friend and fellow pilot, movie star Barbara Fanning. As MGM's biggest female star, Fanning teaches Velva Jean the ins and outs of Hollywood. Amidst gossip, scandals, infidelity, and prescription pills, Velva Jean discovers that everything is not as it appears.
Following the release of Home of the Brave, Velva Jean and her fellow cast mates visit the home of the movies producer and his retired movie star wife for a view days of celebration. The celebrating soon turns to tragedy when Barbara Fanning is found dead. As the studio execs work hard to cover up the murder and frame it as an accident, Velva Jean works to honor her friends memory by uncovering the truth.
I really enjoyed this book. I love old Hollywood as much as I love reading so American Blonde combined my two favorite things. Though fictional, the story is based on real life MGM employees such as Howard Strickling, Eddie Manixx, and Whitey Hendry, who worked hard to cover up things that threatened to destroy the squeaky clean image of their studio and it's stars. With the addition of real photographs and events, such as the Black Dahlia and The Lipstick Murders, Niven brings the story to life.
I also found aspects of the story and the character of Barbara Fanning to be very Marilyn Monroe-esque. For instance, her failed marriages, her unreliable mother, her intense desire to start a family, and her dependence on Benzedrine and Seconal, in addition to the mystery surrounding her death.
American Blonde was unpredictable, dimensional, and often, sexy. It references my favorite stars, like Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, and Gene Kelly, and takes you back to a more glamorous time.
"Louis B. Mayer, and the studio which he ran, belonged to a different era, a different world. A world where men were gentlemen, where women were virtuous, where families were loyal and loving, where pictures hung straighter, grass grew greener, picket fences shone whiter, people danced down streets and sang songs, endings were happy, and everything was sprinkled with magic dust. It was was an idealized America where dreams came true, especially when there were men to protect those dreams and ensure nothing spoiled them"- American Blonde
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