Customer Reviews

Chasing Carole

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As someone who planned to be far more intrigued with the "Old Hollywood" aspect of this book than its namesake, I was genuinely surprised at how quickly I was taken with Carole (and every other aspect of this book).

One pleasant surprise was finding that this work is an easy read - in a book that contains less than easy content. There's a lot going on here - but it works. The drama of secrets, infidelity, and life-altering decisions create an interesting, if not stark, contrast to the "screwball" personality that that we are used to seeing in Carole Lombard - which makes for a thoroughly satisfying read.

Highly recommended.

Several months ago, I was online searching in vain for a biography on Carole Lombard. I have long been a fan, and decided my research of the actress was long past due. To my great disappointment, I could find no non-fictional books, at least none of note, to put in my cart. Then, my eyes landed on Ms. Washburn's book, "Chasing Carole," a fictional account of the actress's life, with its basis in fact. I took a chance, clicked "buy," and waited for my delivery.
To say that I was greatly impressed with Ms. Washburn's novel is a massive understatement! I have seen all of Carole's movies, heard little tidbits along the way, and feel at this point that I "know" her. But to feel the awakening of her true personality, to witness her many dimensions coming to life and being realized was truly something to behold. In this book, Carole is presented honestly, openly, and as herself. While reading, I felt I was listening to Carole in her own voice and in her own words. Being introduced to her humor, her fears, her fire, and her sadness in such an intimate way made me respect and love her all the more. So many bios present you with the hard facts, but they never really let you get close to the flesh and blood subject. This book does, and it left me very pleased and very moved.
It is a fictional novel, but its mixture of true events with a modern story rubbing elbows with the spiritual world never feels phony or forced. It feels real and natural, and there were times when I had to remind myself that the predominant narrator was not a real person, but a fabrication used to take you closer to a being long since gone. I think this book could work for anyone- a Carole fan looking to know her better or a student of history looking for interesting bits and pieces of a life ended far too soon. I enjoyed it very much and recommend it to any and everyone with a love of Hollywood, humor, and strong, independent, interesting women.

Extremely well written and thought out. Not only was it educational, but entertaining as well.

Ms. Washburn did a fantastic job in writing this book. My interest in Carole Lombard has been reinvigorated, and I plan on finding more books about her here on Amazon!

This book is an excellent read, especially for fans of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The reader really gets to know both Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, as well as Cass and her mother. A very compelling story, and an excellent read. I highly recommend this book.

This is an excellent mix of fiction and biography, written in a way that is as interesting as it is illuminating. Carole was a fascinating creature, and Ms. Washburn does an excellent job of giving us an up-close and personal view of Carole's complicated, funny, yet tragic life, bringing her from the heart of the screen to the heart of our understanding. She may have been a famous movie star that succeeded in leaving Fort Wayne, Indiana behind, but she was still the girl next door. I highly recommend this book.

An amazing work of genius that simply cannot be put down. Ms. Washburn so brilliantly captures the spirit and soul of Carole Lombard in a voice that is authentic, enthralling, and provides a real, unadorned take on the Golden Age of Hollywood from the perspective of its reigning Screwball Queen.

It is a stylistic masterpiece that fluidly weaves a tale in two time frames that feed into one another until they ultimately become one entity in a smart, appropriate, authentic climax that marries Carole's screwball wit with her intelligence and tragic fate.

Simply fantastic book that is a must read

Chasing Carole by Barbara Washburn

What would you do if you found out one afternoon that you were the granddaughter of Carole Lombard? For Cass McGowan, professor of film studies at Indiana University, it means coming to terms with the years of lives that her mother told her about their family history.

Cass decides to write a book about her grandmother, and with the help of a box she receives from Clark Gable's son, John, she delves into Carole's life from 1931 to her death on a mountainside in 1942. Cass' mother, who is dying, is able to provide a few answers. But what is unnerving is when Carole's ghost appears to Cass and begins to answer her questions.

After her mother's death, Cass buries herself in work. As her visions of Carole become more vivid, she begins to realize how difficult Carole's decision was to give up her baby. From the diary entries, Carole relates her fears about her career, her love life and her realization about how fleeting life can be.

This last revelation resonates with Cass: not only has she recently lost her mother, but she soon faces a life-threatening situation herself. Those close to her begin to worry about what they see as her obsession with Carole's story, but Cass ignores them. She continues to relive Carole's life through the diary: how concerned she was about not being able to have another baby; her concerns about Clark's inability to be faithful to her; and her feelings about how movie stars paid for their wild lifestyles by dying young.

Cass' slow deterioration coincides with Carole's waning days, and Cass fights as hard as she can to finish the book that has become a tribute to the woman that had become so important to Cass, more important than her living friends. Author Barbara Washburn tells this fictional story from Cass and Carole's points of view. She lovingly gives the reader a view of what Carole's life could have been like, and the agonizing decisions that movie stars had to make in those days. Chasing Carole is a beautiful love story, spanning three generations before coming to its heart-wrenching conclusion.

I'm on page 210 of Barbara's book, and have a list of people waiting to read it! (My friends are all too cheap to buy their own copy!) But it's a fun read, and very interesting. If nothing else, it makes me want to research Carole's life! But it brings back a lot of memories for me, too. So if you haven't already done so, you should definitely check out this book!
Emily

After reading this book, I came away with a better sense of a real flesh and blood person. The line between fact and fiction is blurred. At times, I forgot that
parts of it weren't real.
Ms. Washburn combines actual documentation ( personal notes from Mrs. Lombard Gable) with a well crafted story around these personal entries.
True to form, the book shows you what Carole Lombard Gables' convictions and innermost thoughts were. It takes you through some of her most potent life experiences.
I thouroughly enjoy this book. I've read two other biographies on Carole Lombard Gable. This by far is the most engaging. It enables you to get right up close and personal, to see beyond the public
persona of a very human and compassionate person.

Though on a much smaller scale, in this novel Barbara Washburn gives us a simplified version of The House of the Spirits (Isabel Allende), set in present-day North America, the Golden Age of Hollywood (1930s and 40s) and the spirit world that connects them. This fine novel calls upon us to open up to spirits not of this world, spirits interacting with very real women of this world.

Here we have interwoven narratives: a remarkably personal view of Carole Lombard -- one of the foremost stars of the depression era screwball comedy -- during her affair with and marriage to Clark Gable. At intervals comes the story of a fictional modern-day granddaughter of Lombard (Cass) and her almost-partner Cameron.

I must admit, the modern-day relationship between college professors Cass and Cameron are my favorite part of the book. While I liked the firsthand stories of Lombard, set in her Golden Age of Hollywood world, Ms. Lombard doesn't come to life the way Cass and Cameron do. Perhaps it's a generational bias of mine -- the characters of Cass and Cameron are my contemporaries, very easy for me as a reader to identify with. These modern parts of the book look very much like real life to me, flesh and blood women facing the challenges of life.

Yet I also like stories that challenge skeptical views of the spirit world. And here, as with Isabel Allende's novel noted above, I found myself wanting to believe in the supernatural elements of the story. This is a strength of the novel for me. I'm one of those spirit world skeptics, but not here. The intimacy of the the portraits of Lombard and Gable are startling; "how could Ms. Washburn know that?" I kept asking myself. The details ring very true. And the Hollywood insider information on their contemporaries strike me as have come from a very accurate source.

With Chasing Carole, Barbara Washburn provides us provides a novel at once fearless in its frankness yet tender and loving at its core.