Review: Tinseltown by Barry Brennessel

Tinseltown is a light-heatred, humourous book which tells the story of Micah who, with the help (and hindrance) of his friends tries to find true love.  Along the way there is much disappointment, some tragedy and a lot of laughs.  I'm well aware as a reader of how subjective humour can be, and I have to admit that 20 pages into this book I wasn't wholly sure the humour was going to be to my taste.  Fortunately, this turned out the be just teething problems and it wasn't long before I got into the swing of the book and ended up enjoying it rather a lot.

Part of the reason it took me a while to get into the story, I think, is because of the way the book is organised.  Micah's a film student and because the book is written in his first person narrative, it's structured a little like a film or a play.  We begin the book with a run down of all the major players, including Micah's friends as well as the 'Greek Chorus' who are a trio of voices who act like Micah's conscience, or to call him out when he's trying to slip a lie to the reader (or be self-delusional).  This beginning meant that the start of the book is a little protracted and we don't settle too much into the narrative for a few pages.  The use of the 'chorus' plus assorted other 'voices' who slip into Micah's mind and narration in order to give their thoughts on the action, is a little gimmicky and depending on your temperament you could find them hilarious or annoying. I settled somewhere in between that and sometimes found them very amusing, and sometimes I just wished we could get on with the story.

Having said that, Micah is actually rather a charming narrator who suffers a little from low self confidence when it comes to looks, and a general apathy about his studies and his life.  In other words he's a bit of a typical college student: rather self-absorbed, easily distracted and fond of socialising.  That the author also manages to make him sympathetic and generally likeable is proof of the quality of the characterisation.  Micah's not a bad person, and I found that I followed his adventures with a mix of fondness and exasperation.  This is very much Micah's story and as such the other characters revolve around him.  This meant that the large cast of friends, family and counsellors who Micah interacts with tend to be seen through his rather biased eyes and also tend to flit in an out of the story. As a reader we often only sees part of these characters, the part that Micah notices, rather than then being fully fleshed out.  Thus we get glimpses into the lives of Micah's friends and family but little else.  Whilst this is true to the narrative style, I still found it a little frustrating at times.

The story itself is rather farcical in nature, as Micah bumbles around trying to find someone who can love him, whilst also fitting in his studies. The whole book is mostly made up of either Micah's thoughts or character interactions and dialogue - deliberately so, I think, as the book is trying to resemble film, and  is therefore very cinematic in tone.  It was an interesting concept and one that works only if you like Micah and his self-absorbed musings.  I did.  I also liked the different interactions that Micah has with his friends, especially the nerdy conversations he has with his friend Stan.  Each of Micah's friends has a distinct personality and role within the story - with perhaps the exception of the two Paulies who I kept getting mixed up - and so the interest for me was seeing how Micah uses that to his advantage in whichever situation he is in.

If I have any complaints about the book it was that the light-hearted tone and the breezy narrative meant that when some of the more tragic things happen in the book I was unable to make the emotional connection that I may have done had the tone been more serious.  It distanced me a little from Micah and the things he was going through, so I felt a little like an observer rather than caught up in his situation.  However, as the tragedy only covered a small amount of the story overall, it wasn't a huge problem.

If i had to sum up this book in one word, it would be 'entertaining'.  Once I'd settled into the narrative, and got all the characters correct in my head, I thoroughly enjoyed being taken on the journey of Micah's road to love.  If you want to read something light-hearted and witty with a very likeable hero, then I'd recommend Tinseltown with a grade of 'Very Good'.

Buy this book HERE.