Inspired by a society obsessed with celebrities, Searle explores the glittery-dark underworld of 'hopefuls,' those who have been given the slightest hint of success--or even imagined success--and who are hungry for an audience, of any size. Ranging from a woman's relentless pursuit to be an actress despite her tendency to faint onstage, to a disintegrating family who comes together if only to watch the imaginary lives in a soap opera, these stories capture the thrill and lure of fame and our insatiable need for it.
Celebrities in Disgrace
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A short story collection can be strangely uneven, as if several authors had contributed instead of one. Such is the case with Searle's (A Four-Sided Bed) slim second collection, composed of a novella and four stories. In the title novella, the infamous Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding scandal is reheated and served up. Celebrity-obsessed teenager Daniel Sanders is stalking smalltime actress Kathryn Byrne, who desperately yearns to be cast as Kerrigan in the TV movie chronicling the skating divas' tabloid past. While Searle's descriptions ("He stapled his face over hers"; "Then the ice, the whole rink tilted, dumping her") are sharp and clear, the rambling narrative is in need of some thoughtful pruning, and what clever social commentary she makes is upstaged by awkward pacing. The two stories that avoid the celebrity satire theme are the collection's true starring vehicles. "What It's Worth" is well developed and straightforward, and features likable single student Brigid, who wields sex like a weapon to fend off her loneliness and insecurities. The last tale, "Celebration," is a moving slice of life. Eager to have a baby, spouses Sarah (young) and Paul (older) reluctantly celebrate Paul's 52nd birthday, a reminder that yet another infertile year has passed. Their circumstances are tempered by skillfully applied humor (Sarah envisions their life as a series of tabloid headlines), creating a warm authenticity underscoring Searle's talent, yet undermining the stories that preceded. (June) Forecast: This will mostly attract small-press loyalists, though a campy, tabloid-style cover and the paperback price tag might capture the attention of browsers.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Fame lies just out of reach for many of the characters in this latest collection from Searle, author of A Four-Sided Bed as well as My Body to You, an Iowa Short Fiction Award winner. And the more fame eludes them, the harder they chase after it. In the title novella, Kathryn tenaciously pursues an acting career even though she habitually faints onstage. Still, she tries out for a film role because she wants so much to be recognized beyond her New England hometown. In "What It's Worth," doctoral student Brigid says, "OK, I told myself: if my thesis becomes famous for nothing else, it'll be famous round Brown for being the ONLY thesis no one wanted to toast." Searle's writing brims over with dashes and parenthetical phrases, sentences that dangle on the edge of a cliff and change direction a number of times before they end. This gives her writing a jerky, choppy quality, which reflects the jumpiness and anxiety of many of her characters. The reading experience is not itself choppy, however, but energetic and unpredictable. Recommended for co temporary fiction collections. Lisa Nussbaum, Dauphin Cty. Lib. Sys., Harrisburg, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Elizabeth Searle is the author of four books of fiction: GIRL HELD IN HOME (2011, New Rivers Press), CELEBRITIES IN DISGRACE (new eBook from PFP press, 2011) A FOUR-SIDED BED (new paperback from PFP press, 2011) and MY BODY TO YOU (new paperback forthcoming from U. IA Press). Elizabeth also conceived of and wrote libretto for a theater work, TONYA & NANCY: THE ROCK OPERA, which is based on the Harding/Kerrigan skate scandal and which has drawn national media attention. Elizabeth won the Iowa Short Fiction prize for MY BODY TO YOU (James Salter, judge). A FOUR-SIDED BED appeared on the Boston Globe Paperback bestseller list, was an editor's choice on Amazon and was nominated for an ALA book award. Her CELEBRITIES IN DISGRACE was called a 'miniature masterpiece' in the New York Times Book Review and was produced as a short film in 2010 by Bravo Sierra Pictures, which is now developing A FOUR-SIDED BED as a feature film. Elizabeth's stories have appeared in anthologies such as MEN UNDRESSED: Women Writers on Male Sexual Experience (2011, Dzanc Books) and DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME (Simon & Schuster, 2007). Over thirty of her stories have been published in magazines including Ploughshares, Redbook, Kenyon Review & New England Review. She earned her BA from Oberlin College and her MA from Brown University. She has taught fiction writing at Emerson College, UMass Boston and Bennington MFA. She teaches fiction, pop fiction and scriptwriting in the Stonecoast MFA program. She lives in MA with her husband and son. She won Boston's 2010 Literary Death Match.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
sex for the complex,
By Bruce Rosenberg (Providence, Rhode Island United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Celebrities in Disgrace (Paperback)
This whole collection feels strong and sure. Elizabeth Searle's style is such a pleasure!--the rhythm, the images, the sensual intelligent prose. These stories center around women and girls wanting and needing to be watched. The title piece works perfectly as a film noir novella. Tight, fast but complex; shapely; and it has a satisfyingly dark ending. I also like the story The Young and the Rest of Us. It has a lot of style and power, and a lot of feeling. Compassion for all characters. I read in order to learn how to live life, how to see the world and other people more clearly and deeply. Elizabeth Searle's writing gives me that!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read,
By Kate Davidson (Waltham, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Celebrities in Disgrace (Paperback)
"Celebrities in Disgrace" is Elizabeth Searle's thoughtful exploration of the disturbingly egotistical souls emerging from a celebrity-obsessed culture. The downfall of characters whose driving desire to be placed on a pedestal is tragic in "Memoir of a Soon-To-Be-Star", humiliating in "What It's Worth" and disturbingly and comically familiar to scandal-saturated pop culture watchers in the title story. "The Young and the Rest of Us" touches poignantly on the role of television in the life of a family struck by tragedy. And "Celebration" seems to be the antidote to these often-disturbing characters, portraying one couple's struggle to make the life and death decisions surrounding modern pregnancy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Mind of a Wannabe,
By Curtis from Cambridge (Cambridge, MA -- USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Celebrities in Disgrace (Paperback)
rating for CELEBRITIES IN DISGRACE: 5 stars *****The Mind of a Wannabe Fiction takes us strange places, and none are stranger than a fame-addicted mind. Searle's book is full of vivid people lacking all identity except as others see them - like a stalker looking for the next Pamela Smart, an adolescent acting out horror movies, a photography student imprinted on a charismatic professor. These are real people who will do anything - anything - to fill that gap where their self should be. Searle does us a great service in letting us see the cult of celebrity with new eyes, washed clean from the banal bios - "meteoric rise leads to substance problem but they're getting their life together" - we absorb every time we surf, watch, or read media.
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