Amazon.com: The Assistants: A Novel: Robin Lynn Williams: Books

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Wanted: Young, photogenic writer with one year of experience as an assistant to Hollywood power players to pen easy-reading, summer novel about same.

If the publisher had run this advertisement to find an author for Robin Lynn Williams' debut novel, The Assistants, they would have gotten all that and an innovator to boot. Rather than content herself with the established axiom of Assistant Lit--one lowly assistant, one mean boss--she presents five attractive young nobodies, each taking turns with the first-person point-of-view. (The book even includes pictures of models portraying the protagonists so go ahead and check your imagination at the front cover!) Do you like the narrative voice to be wise and irreverent? If so, you'll enjoy reading about Griffin, the agent's assistant, who struggles to prove that he--not his employer--is the one who knows how to unearth rare talents. Or maybe you'll prefer the saccharine aftertaste of Rachel, a Texas belle who slaves for a has-been sitcom actress. Or the sex-obsessed Jeb, who craves the love of a good woman--his boss's wife. The team is rounded out by Michaela, the wanna-be actress, who logs plenty of time on the casting couch, and Kecia, an actor's assistant, who is kept busy battling both her weight and the IRS.

The Assistants is diverting enough to keep readers entertained, just check your expectations at the door. Writers of Assistant Lit have mastered the art of telling it like it is when it comes to thankless office work, but not when it comes to endings. In real life, the bosses usually win. --Leah Weathersby

From Publishers Weekly
Five Hollywood assistants struggle to stay afloat in a shark-tank of arrogant movie stars and cutthroat agents in Williams's capable debut. Michaela is an assistant to fading sitcom actress and pill-popper Victoria Rush, whose husband, Lorne, is 20 years younger and pathologically unfaithful. Griffin is straight but plays it gay to keep his gig with metrosexual Johnny Treadway, a narcissistic agent whose clientele includes hot, wild, 19-year-old Travis Trask. Jed, assistant to power agent Randall Blume, is unceremoniously handed his walking papers, but recovers by stalking the boss's wife, Ashley. Rachel, a recent Texas transplant, takes screenwriting classes and becomes Victoria and Lorne's newest hire. Kecia scarfs Krispy Kremes, deflects the IRS and baby-sits the unmanageable Travis. All the dirt gets dished at the gang's weekly powwows, and just about everyone ends up getting fired—though Michaela fits in a lesbian affair, Jeb finds love and Rachel's debut screenplay, The Sugarland Shuffle, impresses Griffin (and new business partner Travis), who sees it as the springboard for a new company. Williams was a Hollywood assistant herself, so she knows from Hollywood humiliations. Her resilient characters sometimes spin in place too long, but once she steps up the pace, the story becomes deliciously vicious entertainment.
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The Assistants: A Novel (Hardcover)

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