Crowned Heads by Thomas Tryon
My rating: 3/5 cats
i have read two books by thomas tryon before, and both of them were horror novels. i don’t know why i expected that this one would necessarily also be a horror-themed novella collection, but if you are thinking that – don’t.
don’t read each one of these stories, waiting for the spooky to appear. because it won’t.
there are plenty of horrible things that happen, but they are neither supernatural nor boo-scary, although the last one comes the closest with its View Spoiler »situation.
these intertwined novellas are about what happens after hollywood is through with its formerly shining stars, and the empty aimlessness of life after fame. the story of a mysterious actress desperately trying to retain her youth and beauty in order to prolong her career, the story of what happens to a child actor who refuses to grow up, the story of a woman behaving very badly under the mounting pressures of public scrutiny, and the story of a man trapped in a life that is nothing but the smoke and mirrors of hollywood superficiality.
they are mostly bleak and tragic and horrible, as the characters struggle and lose themselves within the gloss of what is expected from them. there is nothing glamorous here, just the demands of the public, the loss of privacy, the unfairness of gender, and the willingness to accept appearances over truth, no matter how deceptive they are.
i enjoyed fedora and lorna the most, although the ending of lorna was a little bananas, like an even more ridiculous and over-the-top spin on the ending of Tess of the D’Urbervilles with a little dash of that monsterporn i read thrown in. but not an actual monster. you’ll see. bobbitt was mostly good, but a little twee, and willie… well, let’s just say that as an escalation piece, it was incredibly effective and ended up turning into something tony burgess would dig.
this is a reissue of a book originally published in 1976, and it does read like a product of that time. that’s not necessarily a criticism, but it is very clearly depicting a period in american history, and specifically hollywood history. there are plenty of real-life actors and actresses making appearances and being referenced, which gives it a nice semblance of documentary, but as most of these stories remind you (hit you on the [crowned] head with), in hollywood, one must never put any stock in appearances.
let’s call it a 3.5.
