Reluctantly back home in L.A. after sixteen years in Africa, documentary filmmaker Mouse FitzHenry longs for the harsh, teeming jungle life her dark lens took in so lovingly. Wrenched stateside by a family emergency, with her longtime boyfriend/collaborator in tow, Mouse is instantly beleaguered by a past she’d leapt continents to escape and a present she can only face armed by reels of celluloid.
In this rollicking second novel, Karbo reveals familiar subjects—the phony glitz of Hollywood, the fairy-tale lure of love and marriage—with precision, compassion and humor as if we are seeing them for the very first time. Mouse’s paramour Tony, a Brit who calls her “poppet,” adores L.A. and all that it can do for him and for his screenplay, Love Among the Elephants. “Based on a true story” about their courtship in Africa, the script has been given the go-ahead by a producer who insists on dubbing it Love Among Gorillas. Mouse, meanwhile, caving in to maternal pressure, agrees to marry Tony and then proceeds, with the help of an old flame, to film around her unwitting fiancé a documentary on the entire process of their betrothal called Wedding March. A flawless, page-turning story emerges as Mouse and Tony manage—often with hilarious subterfuge— to keep their projects secret from one another. With its laugh-aloud moments and a cast of brilliantly drawn characters, this is a tale to treasure.
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5-Under-The-Radar Reads From Librarian Nancy Pearl
Dec, 19 2014 — (Morning Edition) —
Librarian Nancy Pearl occasionally joins Morning Edition to talk about books she loves that you might not have heard of. As she tells NPR’s Steve Inskeep, her latest batch of under-the-radar reads includes some...Forward
Nancy Pearl on NPR to discuss Karen Karbo’s novel, The Diamond Lane.
Please tune in tomorrow for Nancy Pearl on Morning Edition (6:51AM and 8:51AM) discussing Karen Karbo’s novel, The Diamond Lane.
“The World of Publishing: 1991 vs. 2014,” by Karen Karbo
Karen Karbo, whose 1991 novel The Diamond Lane has been reissued by Hawthorne Books, considered the myriad changes in publishing over that time in a post on the blog at Powell’s Books, Portland, Ore. Her observations include this succinct analysis...Forward
“The best advice I can give is to write your heart and guts out.” In conversation with Karen Karbo, by Anne Rasmussen
ANNE RASMUSSENYour portrait of Los Angeles is so unsparingly, hilariously unforgiving that I found myself laughing out loud every time I came to a new scenic description. You show great compassion and fondness for your characters but not so their...Forward
Nancy Pearl Fights Rainy Day Blues With A Satire, by Marcie Sillman
Marcie Sillman talks with revered librarian Nancy Pearl who recommends The Diamond Lane, by Karen Karbo. It is a Hollywood satire that should cheer up the gray, rainy weather.
To listen go to KUOW.
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Cheryl Strayed's Wild Premiere in Portland, Oregon
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I had the great fortune to attend the premiere in Portland, Oregon, of Wild, based on the memoir by Cheryl Strayed. I want to pause for a moment and say thank you to Cheryl for being a longtime supporter of Hawthorne Books and its writers. “Thank...Forward
The Legend of Il Palio
Posted by Karen Karbo on 10 October 2014
Woohoo, makin’ it!
The A.V. Club and Basil Hayden’s Bourbon have been doing a series of parties around the country celebrating cocktails and craftsman. Called This is My (Fill In Name of City Here), their idea was to get a bunch of really...Forward
The Diamond Lane Book Launch Party
Posted by Liz Crain on 02 October 2014
Thank you to everyone who came out and partied like it was 1991 last night at Broadway Books for the book launch party for Karen Karbo’s The Diamond Lane! So much fun that we all have ZOTZ and Pop Rocks hangovers here at the office. Can’t touch...Forward
Karen Karbo Reads From Julia Child Rules
Posted by Rhonda Hughes on 28 February 2014
During a visit with KQED Karen Karbo read from her most recent book Julia Child Rules: Lessons on Savoring Life, a collection of rules for living. Watch Karbo read an excerpt from “Rule No. 5: All You Need Is a Kitchen and a Bedroom.”
Karbo’s next...Forward
Happy Hour with proofs for Karen Karbo's novel, The Diamond Lane, with an introduction by Jane Smiley!
Posted by Rhonda Hughes on 19 February 2014
Proofs of Karen Karbo’s novel The Diamond Lane with an introduction by Jane Smiley provided a great reason for Happy Hour! Karen’s novel is the latest addition to the Hawthorne Rediscovery Series, which brings notable literary works by living...Forward
Praise for The Diamond Lane
A flawless, page-turning story…With its laugh aloud moments and a cast of brilliantly drawn characters, this is a tale to treasure.
- Publishers Weekly
A wonderfully comic novel about savvy Hollywood outsiders trying to get in… not only is the plot ingenious, but the writing remains deft all the way through.
- The New York Times
It is a testament to Karbo’s skill at high comedy that the ending of this book - a funeral rather than a wedding - leaves you smiling.
- The New Yorker
This astringent, humorous novel tackles two subjects ripe for satire: the Hollywood movie industry and marriage - both notoriously fickle institutions requiring blind hope to sustain life.
- The Los Angeles Times
This kind of novel is a devil to pull off…and Ms. Karbo has done her job brilliantly.
- The New York Times Book Review
Karbo’s story is timeless, and her writing is seamless. She is a keen, wry observer of the hazards of Hollywood and marriage and the fraught relationships between lovers, mothers and daughters and sisters. Filled with sharp characterizations and laugh-out-loud scenes, Karbo’s early ‘90s-era novel proves that, in the right literary hands, the comedic absurdities of life never go out of style.
Shelf Talker: This smart early ‘90s-era comedy of manners about familial, romantic and Hollywood entanglements gets a timely reissue.
- Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines, Shelf Awareness
The Diamond Lane overflows with sly and vicious observations about all that is superficial in the world of two over-the-top, narcissistic industries but in the midst of all the scathing satire and the withering prose, Karbo still manages luscious bits of insight into real human emotion.
The only problem with The Diamond Lane? The ride ends and I wanted to keep reading.
- Catherine Gilmore, Gilmore Guide to Books
The Diamond Lane is a novel worth reading not only for its satirical sendup of Hollywood and its materialism, but also for its continuing relevance to the American way of life more than two decades after its first publication. Karbo speaks to all of us who have struggled to achieve our dreams, been fraught with the need for self-discovery, navigated intricate family relationships, and so often felt besieged by the expectations of society, especially in marriage.
- Alex Temblador, Colorado Review
Anyone who has a sister I think will adore this book. Anybody who appreciates very smart, funny novels will like this book as well. It was one of my favorites when it first came out, and to find it again in a beautiful, beautiful presentation — beautiful cover, everything about it. Hawthorne Books did a fabulous job.
- Nancy Pearl, Librarian and NPR Commentator
- Author of Book Lust