In Pursuit of a Vanishing Star: A Novel

By Gustaf Sobin

Book Overview

As death approaches, scriptwriter Philip Nilson spends his last days writing about a forgotten, yet critical, moment in the life of Greta Garbo, recollecting her journey to Constantinople in 1924, where she became one of th most dominant icons of the twentieth century, forever capturing the imaginat

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393042049
• ISBN13: 9780393042047
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent study of the elusive, illusional in life

This short novel is a gem -- large in scope if not in words. A script writer is dying of cancer. His double, a producer and second husband of the writer's ex-wife, offers him a project -- a gift to keep his mind on things other than dying. The book narrates the film script he is writing - a film on Greta Garbo centered on the event that turned her from another good actress to the film goddess. As he researches and writes the script, the writer comes to terms with his own elusive (illusive) love for a half-sister, to terms with living as a passive canvas versus living with self-understanding.The book is exquisite - well researched and perceptive of people and their idols, the effect of time on changing idols. If you read for action, this is probably not to your liking. If you read to expand your understanding of humanity, this belongs on your "must read" list.