Me and Orson Welles: A Novel

By Robert Kaplow

Book Overview

Coming in 2009, the major motion picture from the director of Slacker The irresistible story of a stagestruck boy coming of age in the golden era of Broadway-with some very famous supporting... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143035223
• ISBN13: 9780143035220
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.1" x 0.6" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Life, Love and Youth...Who Could Ask For More?

I've read a lot of books recently, but I don't think there's one that can top "Me and Orson Welles" for the sheer pleasure it provided. This is a classic, wonderful, coming-of-age story, set in the New York City of 1937. Richard Samuels is a 17-year-old high school student with a big heart and big dreams. Through lucky happenstance, he lands a small part in "Julius Caesar," the opening Broadway production for the Mercury Theatre and its star, 22-year-old Orson Welles. I'm not a Welles scholar by any means, but have read several biographies of the man, and would say the outsized figure who strides through these pages rings true. Yet for all his manic genius, Welles never steals center stage from our hero, Richard, who we quickly learn has a greater soul, if perhaps a lesser talent. Joseph Cotten, John Houseman, Norman Lloyd and the other famous Mercury names come to life in the story as well. You will feel yourself in their midst, feel the great tensions leading up to that all-so-important opening night, revel in their triumphs, share in their disappointments. This will sound like a cliché, I know...but I laughed out loud (a lot); I came close to crying a couple of times; and I closed the book with a real sense of disappointment that it was over, but grateful to have recaptured a wonderful feel for that time in life when everything seems magical and new and anything seems to be possible.--William C. Hall

An A- from Entertainment Weekly!

I bought this novel after reading the excellent review in Entertainment Weekly last week. It really deserves it. The book is quirky, absorbing, and totally original. It puts you right into the heart of a moment in history. That whole world of New York in the 1930's comes alive: the neon signs, the slang, the tempo. And by the time the story's done, you feel as if you've lived through it all yourself. The feeling is exhilarating and terrifying and hilarious.

TEACHER'S DREAM

I just read that this title was selected by BOOKSENSE for their November/December top-ten recommendations, and I completely agree with their selection. I've been teaching JULIUS CAESAR for more than a decade, and I think I've been waiting for a novel like this for a decade. I'm ordering a class-set to go along with my unit on CAESAR. It makes the play come alive. More than that, it makes theater come alive. It is also funny as hell. And I think it shows that being young and ambitious and dreaming of glory is timeless.

STARRED

I read the starred review this novel got from Kirkus Reviews ("Joyful and alive, crackling with wonder.") and, as a fan of All Things Orson, I've been waiting for it with great expectations. I'm pleased to report it's wonderful! It's most brilliant device, I think, is that Welles is a secondary character, not the lead. This lets the narrator, as well as the reader, take an objective and wide-eyed view of the tale. And what a tale it is! I was reading this book, which is really a long countdown to opening night of the Mercury Theatre, and I found my heart was beating faster. Really! My pulse was racing; I was nervous, and this was for a production that opened sixty-six years ago! That's the magic of this novel. You are really there! You befriend Orson Welles. And you share this funny, funny and occasionally poignant rollercoaster ride. And what a damn great movie this would make!