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My Liar
Rachel Cline’s debut novel, What to Keep , was praised as “striking . . . lovely” ( Entertainment Weekly ), “tangibly real” ( Los Angeles Times ), and “eminently readable” ( Salon ). Set in 1990s Hollywood, My Liar portrays the complex connection between two talented women, each striving to realize her own vision of success in work and in love.
Annabeth Jensen, thirty-three, is a film editor. A native Minnesotan, she is most comfortable playing nice and working behind the scenes, even after ten years in Los Angeles. Then she crosses paths with up-and-coming director Laura Katz. Self-confident, assertive, and alluring, Laura seems to be the perfect mentor and the ideal best friend–especially after she hires Annabeth to edit her new film, Trouble Doll.
Yet as Annabeth cuts and recuts the film that both women hope will assure their futures, she finds herself wanting creative control almost as badly as she craves Laura’s approval. Meanwhile, Laura, who trusts almost no one (certainly not her slippery producer, her brittle screenwriter, or her wayward husband), finds herself increasingly reliant on Annabeth. And when Trouble Doll emerges from their collaboration, uncomfortable truths about both women’s lives are forced into the light.
Rachel Cline illuminates the world of moviemaking with keen insight and wry wit. But My Liar looks far beyond the HOLLYWOOD sign. Its real subject is self-deception–in friendship, art, and life–and the enmeshed nature of communication and competition between women.
Praise for My Liar :
“Veteran screenwriter Cline’s second offering confirms her ability to expertly render complex characters entangled in uneasy alliances.”– Booklist
“ My Liar is a seductive charmer of a novel–funny, knowing, poignant, (inclusively) hip and gratifyingly adult at the same time. It is impossible not to be drawn in immediately to the various dramas at the book's center, including the main character's adolescent-crush of a friendship with the glamorous and tough-as-nails director she works for. This is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in an age.”–Daphne Merkin, author of Enchantment
“Looking with an outsider’s fresh eye on that elusive place where Hollywood and Los Angeles–dreams and reality–intersect, Rachel Cline gives us an entirely new story of female friendships and careers in the movie business. This book shines as an architectural, literary, cinematic discovery.”–Carolyn See, author of There Will Never Be Another You
“ My Liar is Rachel Cline’s tender, rueful tale of complicated people in a complicated city. Cline’s characters are wonderfully real, and through them she makes a case for kindness, self-forgiveness, and artistic integrity. A terrific read.”–Martha Moody, author of The Office of Desire
“In My Liar , Rachel Cline succeeds at being funny and tragic, satiric and deeply sympathetic, often in the same breath. With assured and compelling insight into the world of filmmaking–and into the fickleness of the human heart–Cline has written a beautifully balanced work, at once deftly entertaining and deeply felt.”–Katharine Noel
Annabeth Jensen, thirty-three, is a film editor. A native Minnesotan, she is most comfortable playing nice and working behind the scenes, even after ten years in Los Angeles. Then she crosses paths with up-and-coming director Laura Katz. Self-confident, assertive, and alluring, Laura seems to be the perfect mentor and the ideal best friend–especially after she hires Annabeth to edit her new film, Trouble Doll.
Yet as Annabeth cuts and recuts the film that both women hope will assure their futures, she finds herself wanting creative control almost as badly as she craves Laura’s approval. Meanwhile, Laura, who trusts almost no one (certainly not her slippery producer, her brittle screenwriter, or her wayward husband), finds herself increasingly reliant on Annabeth. And when Trouble Doll emerges from their collaboration, uncomfortable truths about both women’s lives are forced into the light.
Rachel Cline illuminates the world of moviemaking with keen insight and wry wit. But My Liar looks far beyond the HOLLYWOOD sign. Its real subject is self-deception–in friendship, art, and life–and the enmeshed nature of communication and competition between women.
Praise for My Liar :
“Veteran screenwriter Cline’s second offering confirms her ability to expertly render complex characters entangled in uneasy alliances.”– Booklist
“ My Liar is a seductive charmer of a novel–funny, knowing, poignant, (inclusively) hip and gratifyingly adult at the same time. It is impossible not to be drawn in immediately to the various dramas at the book's center, including the main character's adolescent-crush of a friendship with the glamorous and tough-as-nails director she works for. This is one of the most enjoyable novels I've read in an age.”–Daphne Merkin, author of Enchantment
“Looking with an outsider’s fresh eye on that elusive place where Hollywood and Los Angeles–dreams and reality–intersect, Rachel Cline gives us an entirely new story of female friendships and careers in the movie business. This book shines as an architectural, literary, cinematic discovery.”–Carolyn See, author of There Will Never Be Another You
“ My Liar is Rachel Cline’s tender, rueful tale of complicated people in a complicated city. Cline’s characters are wonderfully real, and through them she makes a case for kindness, self-forgiveness, and artistic integrity. A terrific read.”–Martha Moody, author of The Office of Desire
“In My Liar , Rachel Cline succeeds at being funny and tragic, satiric and deeply sympathetic, often in the same breath. With assured and compelling insight into the world of filmmaking–and into the fickleness of the human heart–Cline has written a beautifully balanced work, at once deftly entertaining and deeply felt.”–Katharine Noel
- GenresFiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 2, 2009
I thought the book jacket was pretty deceiving on this one (okay, I know I shouldn’t pay attention to the jacket!) but come on, “A seductive charmer of a novel” it is not.
The book opens with a memorial service for Annabeth’s ex-boyfriend who committed suicide. This should have been the tipoff for me to set this one aside, but I kept reading. Annabeth is a compelling character, somehow, despite the flaws in the novel. Her career as a film editor in Hollywood comprises the bulk of the story, in addition to the backstory of her relationship with the ex-boyfriend. Maybe people involved with film or living in LA might find this interesting, but I thought the details of her work were rather dull. Annabeth sort of drives home the idea that we are all equally self-involved, I guess. There is a theme about growing up with alcoholism, but it is a weak one. When I finished this book, I thought “well, at least that didn’t take very long to read.”
The book opens with a memorial service for Annabeth’s ex-boyfriend who committed suicide. This should have been the tipoff for me to set this one aside, but I kept reading. Annabeth is a compelling character, somehow, despite the flaws in the novel. Her career as a film editor in Hollywood comprises the bulk of the story, in addition to the backstory of her relationship with the ex-boyfriend. Maybe people involved with film or living in LA might find this interesting, but I thought the details of her work were rather dull. Annabeth sort of drives home the idea that we are all equally self-involved, I guess. There is a theme about growing up with alcoholism, but it is a weak one. When I finished this book, I thought “well, at least that didn’t take very long to read.”
November 17, 2024
So inside the mind of an editor, and so solid in the ache of friendship (and romantic) disconnect. I've never lived in Los Angeles but now I have.
The story of film struggling to life, oddly read like air. (Air, as I imagine it to be, easy and hot through the palm trees near the Pacific.)
The story of film struggling to life, oddly read like air. (Air, as I imagine it to be, easy and hot through the palm trees near the Pacific.)
January 3, 2026
An old book I had on the shelf. It centers around Annabeth, a film editor, her self centered friend Laura, who is the director of the film she’s editing,and her relationship with her boyfriend David. It’s pretty technical in parts. There is a lot of angst but nothing seems to get resolved.
February 12, 2019
Well written
Insight into the world of film making and the emotion world of those who work in the industry. A good and satisfying read!
Insight into the world of film making and the emotion world of those who work in the industry. A good and satisfying read!
February 29, 2008
BY STACEY KALISH
In her second novel, Rachel Cline tries to unveil simultaneously the complexities of female friendship and ambition in Hollywood — familiar territory for the author, who worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles for almost a decade before writing her lauded first novel, What to Keep.
Meek, mousy film editor Annabeth Jenson has come to Los Angeles from Minnesota to pursue her passion for films and escape her troubled past. After months of unemployment and a hasty move-in with her angsty boyfriend, she meets magnetic indie-film director Laura Katz. The two spark an improbable friendship that leads to collaboration on Katz's second feature, Trouble Doll, a film about an aspiring actress from the Midwest who comes to Hollywood and ultimately ends up an anonymous corpse.
Read the rest of the review at LA Weekly's website:
http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/boo...
and see our updated list of readings in LA at
http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?opt...
In her second novel, Rachel Cline tries to unveil simultaneously the complexities of female friendship and ambition in Hollywood — familiar territory for the author, who worked as a screenwriter in Los Angeles for almost a decade before writing her lauded first novel, What to Keep.
Meek, mousy film editor Annabeth Jenson has come to Los Angeles from Minnesota to pursue her passion for films and escape her troubled past. After months of unemployment and a hasty move-in with her angsty boyfriend, she meets magnetic indie-film director Laura Katz. The two spark an improbable friendship that leads to collaboration on Katz's second feature, Trouble Doll, a film about an aspiring actress from the Midwest who comes to Hollywood and ultimately ends up an anonymous corpse.
Read the rest of the review at LA Weekly's website:
http://www.laweekly.com/art+books/boo...
and see our updated list of readings in LA at
http://www.laweekly.com/index.php?opt...
March 24, 2008
Despite having a terrible title (gleaned from a part of the book that the author thought was significant but that really wasn't), this book was quasi-interesting. If you are interested in the filmmaking business it's worth a read, but the author kept you at arm's length from the characters and the main character has oddly apathetic reactions to things. Like, if your good friend who you admire told you that you were an idiot and spoke to you like you were one, wouldn't you do more than give her a hangdog look and slink out of the room? The more I think about it the more this book really doesn't work on any level.
April 3, 2008
Good, compelling start to the story, but quickly fell apart. Characters were not fleshed out and brief attempts to explain back stories felt completely out of place. By the end, I couldn't quite figure out what the point of the book was.
April 2, 2010
I like books with a firm sense of time and place; in this case, it was Los Angeles, 1994. The characters were shallow, and some of them were downright despicable, but they felt real. I couldn't relate to them, but I was interested in them.
March 17, 2008
It is well written and will hold your interest. More of a chic fiction book than not. I really did not like the characters, but got hooked on what would happen next.
May 11, 2008
Forgettable. Why did I even finish this?
May 5, 2008
Well written, enjoyable read, ending a little too ambiguous for my taste.
October 6, 2008
a chance i took at the library that turned out to be really good!
June 17, 2013
I felt had an underdeveloped plot and characters could have been presented in more intriguing way...
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews