What do you think?
Rate this book
Little Known Facts
The people who orbit around Renn Ivins, an actor of Harrison Ford-like stature--his girlfriends, his children, his ex-wives, those on the periphery--long to experience the glow of his flame. Anna and Will are Renn's grown children, struggling to be authentic versions of themselves in a world where they are seen as less important extensions of their father. They are both drawn to and repelled by the man who overshadows every part of them.
Most of us can imagine the perks of celebrity, but Little Known Facts offers a clear-eyed story of its effects--the fallout of fame and fortune on family members and others who can neither fully embrace nor ignore the superstar in their midst. With Little Known Facts, Christine Sneed emerges as one of the most insightful chroniclers of our celebrity-obsessed age, telling a story of influence and affluence, of forging identity and happiness and a moral compass; the question being, if we could have anything on earth, would we choose correctly?
Most of us can imagine the perks of celebrity, but Little Known Facts offers a clear-eyed story of its effects--the fallout of fame and fortune on family members and others who can neither fully embrace nor ignore the superstar in their midst. With Little Known Facts, Christine Sneed emerges as one of the most insightful chroniclers of our celebrity-obsessed age, telling a story of influence and affluence, of forging identity and happiness and a moral compass; the question being, if we could have anything on earth, would we choose correctly?
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 17, 2013
45 people are currently reading
2082 people want to read
About the author
Christine Sneed
25 books258 followersChristine Sneed's fifth book, Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, was published in October 2022, along with a short fiction anthology she edited, Love in the Time of Time's Up. Her seventh book and third story collection, Direct Sunlight: Stories, was published in June 2023.
Her other works of fiction include The Virginity of Famous Men, which was a finalist for the 2016 Chicago Review of Books Award for best fiction and winner of the Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. Her novel Paris, He Said was an Illinois Reads selection for 2016 and is set in contemporary Paris and New York. The main character, Jayne Marks, is an artist who moves to Paris to live with a French gallery owner who is worldly, generous, and unfaithful.
Her first book, a story collection titled Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, won AWP's 2009 Grace Paley Prize; Ploughshares' award for a first book, the John C. Zacharis Prize; the Chicago Writers Association book of the year (for traditionally published fiction); was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (first-fiction category), and was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.
Her second book, the novel Little Known Facts, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection in 2013. It centers on a successful Hollywood actor and the effects of his fame on the people to whom he's closest. Little Known Facts was a Booklist top-ten debut novel of 2013 and received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Adult Fiction.
Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2008, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2012, New England Review, Southern Review, Ploughshares, American Literary Review, Meridian, Massachusetts Review, Notre Dame Review, Third Coast, Barrelhouse, TriQuarterly Online, South Dakota Review, Greensboro Review, Story, and a number of other journals.
She lives in Pasadena, CA and teaches for Northwestern University, UCLA Extension, Stanford Continuing Studies, and Regis University's low-residency MFA program. She attended Georgetown University for an undergraduate degree in French language and literature and Indiana University for a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
Her other works of fiction include The Virginity of Famous Men, which was a finalist for the 2016 Chicago Review of Books Award for best fiction and winner of the Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. Her novel Paris, He Said was an Illinois Reads selection for 2016 and is set in contemporary Paris and New York. The main character, Jayne Marks, is an artist who moves to Paris to live with a French gallery owner who is worldly, generous, and unfaithful.
Her first book, a story collection titled Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, won AWP's 2009 Grace Paley Prize; Ploughshares' award for a first book, the John C. Zacharis Prize; the Chicago Writers Association book of the year (for traditionally published fiction); was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (first-fiction category), and was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.
Her second book, the novel Little Known Facts, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection in 2013. It centers on a successful Hollywood actor and the effects of his fame on the people to whom he's closest. Little Known Facts was a Booklist top-ten debut novel of 2013 and received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Adult Fiction.
Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2008, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2012, New England Review, Southern Review, Ploughshares, American Literary Review, Meridian, Massachusetts Review, Notre Dame Review, Third Coast, Barrelhouse, TriQuarterly Online, South Dakota Review, Greensboro Review, Story, and a number of other journals.
She lives in Pasadena, CA and teaches for Northwestern University, UCLA Extension, Stanford Continuing Studies, and Regis University's low-residency MFA program. She attended Georgetown University for an undergraduate degree in French language and literature and Indiana University for a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
November 9, 2012
Some background on what inspired this book: I've written a number of short stories with characters working in the Hollywood film industry, and Little Known Facts is a longer meditation, with several different point-of-view characters, on fame and the myths we're often very willing to buy wholesale about the celebrities we admire most. It has seemed apparent to me for a while though that fame is not a shortcut to lasting happiness, in particular for those most closely involved with a famous person. For the famous themselves, the pressures related to holding onto their fame can be exhausting, potentially destructive, and nearly impossible to live with gracefully.
The characters who narrate this novel are both male and female and range in age from their mid-20s to their mid-50s. Little Known Facts was, from the first paragraph to the last, a true pleasure to write. I had never before had a better time at my writing desk, and this is not the first full-length novel I've written (four others sit in neglected heaps in my storage closet.) I hope you'll enjoy it too if you read it.
The characters who narrate this novel are both male and female and range in age from their mid-20s to their mid-50s. Little Known Facts was, from the first paragraph to the last, a true pleasure to write. I had never before had a better time at my writing desk, and this is not the first full-length novel I've written (four others sit in neglected heaps in my storage closet.) I hope you'll enjoy it too if you read it.
July 18, 2019
This book was okay - nothing too hard. Lite fare. After my big summer read (Oblomov), I needed something easy to speed up my reading challenge pace (Little Known Facts was book #20 of 50. I am so far behind...) and to recover from that thick vacation classic (Oblomov). My love for Hollywood dysfunction - real or imagined - also turned the pages faster.
2 stars
2 stars
August 8, 2013
Little Known Secrets begins with an intriguing premise: how do those family members – the lesser planets – fare when they are “forced to orbit the famous, greedily glowing sun in their midst.”
That “sun” is Renn Ivins, an instantly recognizable actor who calls to mind someone of Harrison Ford’s stature. And the “lesser planets” are his first ex-wife, a physician who has worked hard to reclaim her identity, and their two shared adult children, Will/Billy and Anna.
The story soars when it displays how Will and Anna struggle to get out from the shadow of the fame that always threatens to eclipse them. Will is at odds, always a little bit angry, never quite sure of what his place is in life and where he is heading. Anna, who follows her mother into medicine, finds herself attracted to a father substitute figure, who possesses some of the charm and deceit of Renn himself. Other stables and hanger-ons – including Renn’s second ex-wife, his new much younger girlfriend, and Will and Anna’s lovers – also get their moment in the sun.
To me, the book did not entirely succeed for two reasons. First, it was important for the reader to truly feel Renn’s overwhelming charisma, and I never did. For the most part, he seemed like a cardboard character: a super-star who indeed, was interchangeable with just about any other superstar out there. The uniqueness of Renn never really took hold.
And second, there just wasn’t enough differentiation in the voices of the characters. A certain sameness in tone suggested that each character was a less-important extension of the “big man”. Although the characters each had their own uniqueness, there were too many times I felt I was being lead. (For instance, when Anna becomes involved with a father figure, I don’t have to be told that he may be a father substitute by the author. I can figure it out for myself.)
Christina Sneed is a very good writer and her perspective – from the family’s perspective instead of the superstar’s – definitely has merit. Perhaps just not enough for me.
That “sun” is Renn Ivins, an instantly recognizable actor who calls to mind someone of Harrison Ford’s stature. And the “lesser planets” are his first ex-wife, a physician who has worked hard to reclaim her identity, and their two shared adult children, Will/Billy and Anna.
The story soars when it displays how Will and Anna struggle to get out from the shadow of the fame that always threatens to eclipse them. Will is at odds, always a little bit angry, never quite sure of what his place is in life and where he is heading. Anna, who follows her mother into medicine, finds herself attracted to a father substitute figure, who possesses some of the charm and deceit of Renn himself. Other stables and hanger-ons – including Renn’s second ex-wife, his new much younger girlfriend, and Will and Anna’s lovers – also get their moment in the sun.
To me, the book did not entirely succeed for two reasons. First, it was important for the reader to truly feel Renn’s overwhelming charisma, and I never did. For the most part, he seemed like a cardboard character: a super-star who indeed, was interchangeable with just about any other superstar out there. The uniqueness of Renn never really took hold.
And second, there just wasn’t enough differentiation in the voices of the characters. A certain sameness in tone suggested that each character was a less-important extension of the “big man”. Although the characters each had their own uniqueness, there were too many times I felt I was being lead. (For instance, when Anna becomes involved with a father figure, I don’t have to be told that he may be a father substitute by the author. I can figure it out for myself.)
Christina Sneed is a very good writer and her perspective – from the family’s perspective instead of the superstar’s – definitely has merit. Perhaps just not enough for me.
March 3, 2013
I didn't want to like this book. I have a to-read shelf that is overwhelmingly full and if something doesn't grab me in the first twenty pages, I'll put it down. I almost put this one down when I found a few sentences that were awkwardly constructed, enough that I had to re-read them several times to get the meaning. But, fortunately, by this time, I was totally hooked on these characters. The book is narrated from the perspectives of various characters surrounding the obscenely successful and famous actor, the fictional Renn Ivins. Not many writers can handle this sort of switching, but Sneed carries it off with aplomb.
I found myself thinking about these characters as I went about my day, wondering how they were doing, as if they were real people. Sneed even manages to make the famous actor with all his self-absorption, seem sympathetic in the end. I loved this story and all that happens to the various characters. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could, taking the half off only because of those few (Really there were only a few. But where was the editor?!) awkwardly constructed sentences and the ending which I found slightly dissatisfying. I turned the last page and was surprised to see the acknowledgements. I had hoped for more. But better to be left wanting more than to think it ended somehow inappropriately, which this book did not.
I hope Ms. Sneed is working on another book because I'd sure like to read it.
I found myself thinking about these characters as I went about my day, wondering how they were doing, as if they were real people. Sneed even manages to make the famous actor with all his self-absorption, seem sympathetic in the end. I loved this story and all that happens to the various characters. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could, taking the half off only because of those few (Really there were only a few. But where was the editor?!) awkwardly constructed sentences and the ending which I found slightly dissatisfying. I turned the last page and was surprised to see the acknowledgements. I had hoped for more. But better to be left wanting more than to think it ended somehow inappropriately, which this book did not.
I hope Ms. Sneed is working on another book because I'd sure like to read it.
July 15, 2013
The flatness of fame
This novel is about the effect of the fame of a well-know actor on the people around him. He is a very well-established Hollywood figure, on a level with Clint Eastwood or Paul Newman. The effects are reported in separate chapters from the points of view of his children, girlfriend, his ex wives, and a couple of background characters, some narrated in first person, some in omniscient third person. The chapters are arranged sequentially in story time so that the reader is engaged in questions of outcome, mostly about the fate of romantic relationships, but most poignantly between the actor and his son. Thus there are two tropes doing the work of a plot in a more standard novel, the reader’s engagement with the outcome of these relationships, and a gradual accretion of information and feeling about that effect of fame, like a movie of the process of a painting filling up with images. The prose is graceful, clear, not flashy, but sometimes borders on the prose of romance novels. I read this book aloud and I note that from time to time I spontaneously left out phrases that seemed to me redundant. I did not need them to complete my listener’s understanding. (Parenthetically, I report that the protagonist's name is Renn (short for Renaldo). I was half way through the book when my listener asked me if his name were spelled “Wren”).
Many fine novels have ben written in approximately this way. The first that comes to mind is Faulkner’s masterpiece As I Lay Dying, and they resemble epistolary novels that pay telling attention to the diversity of their character's style and emotions like another masterpiece, Les Liaisons Dangereuse.
But there is something flat about these characters. I thought at first it was because novels that set out to show how trivial the world of their characters is often become trivial themselves, like, dare I say it, The Great Gatsby. But this book does not trivialize the characters; it merely did not quite make me care who they are.
Of course there are many novels about Hollywood, often by outsiders and who try to trivialize it, like The Loved One or The Deer Park. They tend to be lesser efforts of their authors. As I was reading about Renn, I recalled an interview with Marylyn Monroe that went something like this: Someone asked her a question like, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' She answered she didn’t want to be anything in particular; she just wanted to be ‘wonderful’. I thought to myself, no wonder she killed herself. You can’t just be wonderful; that is empty; you have to be wonderful at something.
Maybe I am the wrong kind of person to read this novel. The generally favorable review in the New York Times begins by the reviewer boasting that he can name the children in order of a Hollywood couple, although he does not particularly go to their movies. I had vaguely heard their names, but did not know they were married let alone had children.
The effect of the protagonist’s fame on one character is not fully portrayed, and that is on the protagonist himself. He works hard, very hard, has a social conscience, has grown pampered and egocentric, and is generally a good guy, but thoughtless about the consequences other people of his acts for, particularly choice of lovers. The novel implies it is his fame that makes women want to go to bed with him, but I certainly know people of all genders who have on the surface not much to recommend them, but encounter no trouble finding lovers of problematic consequence. All this about Renn, but I never felt what acting meant to him.
One of the Hollywood novels by outsiders is Robert Stone's The Children of Light. Stone pokes some fun, but does not trivialize Hollywood; Stone’s characters suffer too much to be trivialized. The main character is an actress who depends on psychoactive medication to stave off madness. At one point she is discussing a difficult role she has undertaken with the protagonist, who is her confidant. Refereeing to her meds she says, “You should try acting behind those things”. She is willing to risk madness, whose horrors she knows well, to fulfill her calling. And, in fact, she does stop taking her meds, loses it, leading to one of Stone's typical bang-up endings. There is more bite in her one little question than all we leaner of what acting or fame matters to the protagonist of Little Known Facts.
I wrote above of an accretion. Perhaps that is the problem. It is accretion, not peeling away; it is not like Peer Gynt’s onion. It seems to me that if we really understood what the protagonist meant to himself, the author would necessarily have written the effects of his life differently and would have had to etch each character deeper.
Let me add that Sneed has written some very fine short stories; I know she can do better.
This novel is about the effect of the fame of a well-know actor on the people around him. He is a very well-established Hollywood figure, on a level with Clint Eastwood or Paul Newman. The effects are reported in separate chapters from the points of view of his children, girlfriend, his ex wives, and a couple of background characters, some narrated in first person, some in omniscient third person. The chapters are arranged sequentially in story time so that the reader is engaged in questions of outcome, mostly about the fate of romantic relationships, but most poignantly between the actor and his son. Thus there are two tropes doing the work of a plot in a more standard novel, the reader’s engagement with the outcome of these relationships, and a gradual accretion of information and feeling about that effect of fame, like a movie of the process of a painting filling up with images. The prose is graceful, clear, not flashy, but sometimes borders on the prose of romance novels. I read this book aloud and I note that from time to time I spontaneously left out phrases that seemed to me redundant. I did not need them to complete my listener’s understanding. (Parenthetically, I report that the protagonist's name is Renn (short for Renaldo). I was half way through the book when my listener asked me if his name were spelled “Wren”).
Many fine novels have ben written in approximately this way. The first that comes to mind is Faulkner’s masterpiece As I Lay Dying, and they resemble epistolary novels that pay telling attention to the diversity of their character's style and emotions like another masterpiece, Les Liaisons Dangereuse.
But there is something flat about these characters. I thought at first it was because novels that set out to show how trivial the world of their characters is often become trivial themselves, like, dare I say it, The Great Gatsby. But this book does not trivialize the characters; it merely did not quite make me care who they are.
Of course there are many novels about Hollywood, often by outsiders and who try to trivialize it, like The Loved One or The Deer Park. They tend to be lesser efforts of their authors. As I was reading about Renn, I recalled an interview with Marylyn Monroe that went something like this: Someone asked her a question like, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?' She answered she didn’t want to be anything in particular; she just wanted to be ‘wonderful’. I thought to myself, no wonder she killed herself. You can’t just be wonderful; that is empty; you have to be wonderful at something.
Maybe I am the wrong kind of person to read this novel. The generally favorable review in the New York Times begins by the reviewer boasting that he can name the children in order of a Hollywood couple, although he does not particularly go to their movies. I had vaguely heard their names, but did not know they were married let alone had children.
The effect of the protagonist’s fame on one character is not fully portrayed, and that is on the protagonist himself. He works hard, very hard, has a social conscience, has grown pampered and egocentric, and is generally a good guy, but thoughtless about the consequences other people of his acts for, particularly choice of lovers. The novel implies it is his fame that makes women want to go to bed with him, but I certainly know people of all genders who have on the surface not much to recommend them, but encounter no trouble finding lovers of problematic consequence. All this about Renn, but I never felt what acting meant to him.
One of the Hollywood novels by outsiders is Robert Stone's The Children of Light. Stone pokes some fun, but does not trivialize Hollywood; Stone’s characters suffer too much to be trivialized. The main character is an actress who depends on psychoactive medication to stave off madness. At one point she is discussing a difficult role she has undertaken with the protagonist, who is her confidant. Refereeing to her meds she says, “You should try acting behind those things”. She is willing to risk madness, whose horrors she knows well, to fulfill her calling. And, in fact, she does stop taking her meds, loses it, leading to one of Stone's typical bang-up endings. There is more bite in her one little question than all we leaner of what acting or fame matters to the protagonist of Little Known Facts.
I wrote above of an accretion. Perhaps that is the problem. It is accretion, not peeling away; it is not like Peer Gynt’s onion. It seems to me that if we really understood what the protagonist meant to himself, the author would necessarily have written the effects of his life differently and would have had to etch each character deeper.
Let me add that Sneed has written some very fine short stories; I know she can do better.
May 3, 2013
A brilliant first novel that often doesn't read as a novel at all. It's really a book about contemporary celebrity culture and how it affects everyone who comes in contact with it. Told from, I think, nine different points of view, Little Known Facts is about how each person in the orbit of world famous superstar actor Renn Ivins are dominated by his presence in their lives. There's his son and daughter, his two ex-wives, two girlfriends, a couple of others. Christine inhabits each of these people's consciousness, and so each chapter has a different tone. In addition, she has a long chapter from the viewpoint of Renn himself, an insufferably pompous narcissist who has no idea what it means to be a good man but knows everything about how important it is to look good in order to keep his adoring public on his side. The portrait of Renn is devastating. It's essential to the book's mordant point of how decent people can live in the shadow of the hollow men who constitute what this society regards as heroes. Until about the last third, Christine doesn't seem interested in plot. She's limning characters and how they interact with each other, and the book's real joy is in the subtlety, humor, and muted heartbreak of these interactions. There's a Proustian complexity to her dialogue and interior monologues. Toward the end, the reader gets caught up in the relationships Anna and Billy Ivins, Renn's grown children, have with their lovers, and we want to know how they turn out. In a wise move, Christine doesn't tell us, leaving us to assume that Anna's relationship with a medical mentor even more narcissistic than her father will end badly, and Billy's with a new girl in Paris will turn out well. As in Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, Christine dwells a lot on the relationships between young women and men old enough to be their fathers. In Little Known Facts, the competition between Billy and his father for two different girlfriends is a bit on the creepy side, but it nonetheless illuminates how difficult it must be for an "average" son to find himself when he's in the shadow of a father who wouldn't know how to fail if he tried. In Renn Ivins, Christine seems to be channeling Robert Redford, Harrison Ford, Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Warren Beatty and who knows who else, and her picture of such men is not pretty. Nonetheless, it feels all too real, and Christine never deviates from the harsh sordidness behind the images of such icons of perfection. The only thing that clunked for me was her choice to end the book in the voice of Lucy Wilkins Ivins, Renn's first wife and the mother of his children. Lucy is a successful physician, an emotional distancer, wise and prudent in a dull sort of way until she connects with an old boyfriend, which makes her seem as giddy about sex as her husband and children. But this character, probably the least interesting in the book, doesn't provide the ending with enough punch. I'd have preferred it if she'd let Billy, her most complex, fully realized character, end it. But that doesn't diminish this novel's many delights. Should be up for the big prizes at the end of the year.
August 26, 2012
Reflections on a movie star, from himself and the people close to him--his ex-wife, son, daughter, etc. There are some interesting observations on fame here, but there's not much story, and the diction doesn't vary from narrator to narrator; every voice is laconic and flat.
July 12, 2018
Interesting book. a look into the life of a fictional famous celebrity and his family and co-workers
January 11, 2013
Little Known Facts
by
Christine Sneed
My " in a nutshell" summary...
Famous father...dysfunctional children...success and relationships and what they might do to a family.
My thoughts after reading this book...
The story is told by people who are involved with Renn...famous actor father...the man everyone loves except perhaps his ex wives and son. Renn has led a rather charmed life...women, career, money...he has everything that he has ever wanted. His children...Anna and Will...are not clearly dysfunctional but it seems as though they can be...especially Will. The story of this family unfolds with every chapter. With each chapter I understood more and more about the lives of each of them. Will...probably the most troubled one...runs to excess, hasn't a clue what to do with his life, and seems to have the most exasperating relationship with his father. Relationships in this novel are confusing...mixed up...and crossover into the kinds of relationships they should not be.
This is the kind of novel that is utterly fascinating and at the same time almost impossible to explain. It unfolds with each chapter...the relationships become clear and near the end you will finally understand...sort of...the relationships within this family. No one is rude or excitable or outwardly argumentative. Every issue is handled by not really talking about it!
What I loved about this book...
I loved the story. I loved the writing. I was not anxious to turn and speed read every page but I rather just wanted to relax and enjoy this book. The author did an immeasurably lovely job of explaining this family...what fame does...how this family works...and how Renn's choices affected every one. It is also a glimpse at what having no boundaries will do to relationships. I am not just speaking of Renn.
What I did not love...
I really did not like the ending. I don't think it was clear and it left me befuddled.
Final thoughts...
I found this book to be a fascinating look at an interestingly unusual family.
by
Christine Sneed
My " in a nutshell" summary...
Famous father...dysfunctional children...success and relationships and what they might do to a family.
My thoughts after reading this book...
The story is told by people who are involved with Renn...famous actor father...the man everyone loves except perhaps his ex wives and son. Renn has led a rather charmed life...women, career, money...he has everything that he has ever wanted. His children...Anna and Will...are not clearly dysfunctional but it seems as though they can be...especially Will. The story of this family unfolds with every chapter. With each chapter I understood more and more about the lives of each of them. Will...probably the most troubled one...runs to excess, hasn't a clue what to do with his life, and seems to have the most exasperating relationship with his father. Relationships in this novel are confusing...mixed up...and crossover into the kinds of relationships they should not be.
This is the kind of novel that is utterly fascinating and at the same time almost impossible to explain. It unfolds with each chapter...the relationships become clear and near the end you will finally understand...sort of...the relationships within this family. No one is rude or excitable or outwardly argumentative. Every issue is handled by not really talking about it!
What I loved about this book...
I loved the story. I loved the writing. I was not anxious to turn and speed read every page but I rather just wanted to relax and enjoy this book. The author did an immeasurably lovely job of explaining this family...what fame does...how this family works...and how Renn's choices affected every one. It is also a glimpse at what having no boundaries will do to relationships. I am not just speaking of Renn.
What I did not love...
I really did not like the ending. I don't think it was clear and it left me befuddled.
Final thoughts...
I found this book to be a fascinating look at an interestingly unusual family.
July 22, 2013
Renn Ivins is a big, big star – an actor, a screenwriter, and a director; nominated for and winner of many prestigious prizes. But like many people who achieve the fame and fortune that they dream of, his life is less than perfect. He’s twice divorced, his relationships with his adult children are sometimes strained, and like all actors, he worries about his career, his appeal…and his girlfriend, who is younger than his children.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view: Renn’s first ex-wife; they married young and she became a pediatrician as he climbed the ladder to acting renown. His daughter, Anna, who is in med school, and pursuing an inappropriate relationship of her own. Billy/Will, the son who can’t seem to find his way; and Danielle, Will's girlfriend. Renn’s second ex-wife, who writes a memoir, revealing their unhappy marriage to everyone. Elise, the too-young girlfriend who is just approaching fame in the movie Renn is directing. The only chapters that I don’t think worked as well as the others were the faux-interview of Renn by the frustrated screenwriter/propmaster and Renn’s supposed journal. The journal revealed some things about Renn that made him more accessible, more sympathetic than he might have been otherwise, but I didn’t think that the format was the best.
Christine Sneed took a subject that so many of us think we’re familiar with (after all, we all see People, Us, and the National Enquirer at the checkout) and put a new spin on it. Instead of being facile and superficial, you know and understand and care about these characters. It’s a brilliant piece of work.
Each chapter is told from a different point of view: Renn’s first ex-wife; they married young and she became a pediatrician as he climbed the ladder to acting renown. His daughter, Anna, who is in med school, and pursuing an inappropriate relationship of her own. Billy/Will, the son who can’t seem to find his way; and Danielle, Will's girlfriend. Renn’s second ex-wife, who writes a memoir, revealing their unhappy marriage to everyone. Elise, the too-young girlfriend who is just approaching fame in the movie Renn is directing. The only chapters that I don’t think worked as well as the others were the faux-interview of Renn by the frustrated screenwriter/propmaster and Renn’s supposed journal. The journal revealed some things about Renn that made him more accessible, more sympathetic than he might have been otherwise, but I didn’t think that the format was the best.
Christine Sneed took a subject that so many of us think we’re familiar with (after all, we all see People, Us, and the National Enquirer at the checkout) and put a new spin on it. Instead of being facile and superficial, you know and understand and care about these characters. It’s a brilliant piece of work.
November 25, 2012
Excellent work from Christine Sneed; a quantum leap from her (also excellent) debut short story collection, Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry. This understated but ambitious novel is not about "Hollywood,'' although it deals with the tangled psychological and sexual complications of a famed actor but about the equally complicated machinations of family, made even more complicated by the mixed blessing of "fame.'' Sons and daughters, husbands and wives come together, trying to be better than they are and sometimes succeeding. Sneed has an unmistakeable and distinctive voice; this is a remarkable novel.
January 22, 2013
I have to admit this book was really very good. It is decidely readable and offers a believable insight into a world most of us can but guess at.
Told from the point of view of a few characters, I felt each character had a distinct voice and that's not something you often get in a debut novel.
Simple, open and surprisingly compelling. I'm looking forward to more from Christine.
Full review here
Told from the point of view of a few characters, I felt each character had a distinct voice and that's not something you often get in a debut novel.
Simple, open and surprisingly compelling. I'm looking forward to more from Christine.
Full review here
December 5, 2013
A smart meditation on jealousy and happiness and the inevitable comparisons people find themselves making to other people.
August 31, 2017
Character-driven fiction is my jam. I love plot but if the characters grab me and never let go, I will follow the author to the end - until they write their last word. This is what made me read LKF in less than 3 days.
It tells the story of an Oscar-winning, scene (and girl!) stealing, self absorbed actor named Renn. His mess has touched everyone in his life: his 2 ex wives, his 2 adult children, and a cast of personalities woven into this spectacular read. If you have an interest in celeb drama, Hollywood chaos, and thriving through life's punches, don't hesitate to pick up LKF. Each chapter is like an intimate interview with each character. You find yourself empathizing for with them all - even Renn (...a little bit...). I'm already making plans to read all of Sneed's words. I'm following her to the end!
It tells the story of an Oscar-winning, scene (and girl!) stealing, self absorbed actor named Renn. His mess has touched everyone in his life: his 2 ex wives, his 2 adult children, and a cast of personalities woven into this spectacular read. If you have an interest in celeb drama, Hollywood chaos, and thriving through life's punches, don't hesitate to pick up LKF. Each chapter is like an intimate interview with each character. You find yourself empathizing for with them all - even Renn (...a little bit...). I'm already making plans to read all of Sneed's words. I'm following her to the end!
May 29, 2018
This is the second or third book I've read recently where the story is told from multiple characters' viewpoints in alternating chapters. It's almost more like reading a book of interconnected short stories (but not exactly). Despite not feeling like there was really anyone to root for in this book, I enjoyed it. Up until the abrupt ending, which knocked off a star for me.
Read
November 6, 2017From Meredith: "I don’t watch a lot of TV or go to a lot of movies, but celebrity gossip blogs are my guilty pleasure. I may not always known who the stars are being discussed in these blogs, but that doesn’t make them less enjoyable.little-known-facts
Christine Sneed’s Little Known Facts is like reading a particularly juicy tidbit on BlindGossip.
Little Known Facts is a fictional look at the celebrity lifestyle through Renn Ivins. He’s in his 50s, has two kids in their 20s and two ex-wives, but Hollywood still loves him. That’s great for his career, but what about his life? Or the lives of those close to him?
This book shows the ups and downs of fame through several characters, including his current (and way younger lover), his children, and a prop master. The behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood shines a light on celebrity life we often don’t see. I’m not saying being a rich movie star sounds terrible, but you really do give up a lot to have it all.
Little Known Facts was Christine Sneed’s debut novel. I was thrilled to learn she’s published more. Even better, they’re part of our fiction collection!"
Christine Sneed’s Little Known Facts is like reading a particularly juicy tidbit on BlindGossip.
Little Known Facts is a fictional look at the celebrity lifestyle through Renn Ivins. He’s in his 50s, has two kids in their 20s and two ex-wives, but Hollywood still loves him. That’s great for his career, but what about his life? Or the lives of those close to him?
This book shows the ups and downs of fame through several characters, including his current (and way younger lover), his children, and a prop master. The behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood shines a light on celebrity life we often don’t see. I’m not saying being a rich movie star sounds terrible, but you really do give up a lot to have it all.
Little Known Facts was Christine Sneed’s debut novel. I was thrilled to learn she’s published more. Even better, they’re part of our fiction collection!"
August 17, 2017
I don't watch a lot of TV or go to a lot of movies, but celebrity gossip blogs are like crack to me. I may not always known who the stars are in these blogs, but that doesn't matter when the dirt is good. :) This book was like reading a particularly juicy tidbit on BlindGossip.
Little Known Facts is a fictional look at the celebrity lifestyle through Renn Ivins. He's in his 50s, has two kids in their 20s and two ex-wives, but Hollywood still loves him. That's great for his career, but what about his life? Or the lives of those close to him?
This book shows the ups and downs of fame through several characters. I'm not saying being a rich movie star sounds terrible, but you really do give up a lot to have it all.
This was Christine Sneed's debut novel. I was thrilled to learn she's published more!
Little Known Facts is a fictional look at the celebrity lifestyle through Renn Ivins. He's in his 50s, has two kids in their 20s and two ex-wives, but Hollywood still loves him. That's great for his career, but what about his life? Or the lives of those close to him?
This book shows the ups and downs of fame through several characters. I'm not saying being a rich movie star sounds terrible, but you really do give up a lot to have it all.
This was Christine Sneed's debut novel. I was thrilled to learn she's published more!
January 17, 2013
See my full review here: http://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.wor...
Slick, fast-paced and with that ‘I-know-it’s-sleazy-but-I-can’t-stop-watching’ element of Entourage, Little Known Facts, the debut novel by Christine Sneed is a brilliant read.
It’s the story of Hollywood movie star, Ren Ivins, and is told from the perspective of the various people around him from his children (Will and Anna) and ex-wives to the kid who looks after props on the set of one of his films. In many ways, Ren is exactly like you would expect -
“‘I’m an ass man and a tits man. Why should I have to choose between the two?’ Indeed. The usual laws of supply and demand do not apply to movie stars.”
And in many ways, Ren is unbelievably insecure.
“I keep two journals – one of them, J1, to be published after my death if the executor of my estate (who is my attorney, not one of my kids) thinks enough people will want to read it. The other journal, J2, I don’t and won’t share with anyone…. This is where I write down the things that I have done or the thoughts I have had that sometimes make it hard to sleep at night. I can’t talk to my psychiatrist about these things because I don’t want him to think badly of me…”
The narrator changes with each chapter. Elements of the over-arching story are presented as snapshots within the context of each character, progressing the story in a series of small but satisfying jumps. By structuring the story this way, Sneed slowly peels back layers of the main players and in doing so, reveals them for who they truly are. Cleverly, Sneed manages to do this on many levels from major plot points to seemingly inconsequential asides (who knew a pair of RayBans could reveal so much?).
This novel is not the lightweight it may first appear. Sneed’s writing is perfectly paced and her observations injected with wry humour.
“Sometimes, to get ahead, to step out of the rapids that are rushing you toward nowhere but death, you have to do a thing or two that wouldn’t make your parents or the president or your therapist proud.”
Sneed also gives her characters believable neediness – not in a ‘I’m a movie star so look at me’ kind of way but rather she hones in on the insecurities experienced by those living in Ren’s reflected glory. And herein lies the paradox – Renn’s kids want for nothing. They have wealth, associated fame and relative anonymity but we discover that it all comes at a price – insecurity, a lack of ambition (in the case of Will) and trouble trusting others. As Will says -
“He knows that he could do anything he wants to with his life. If he wanted to study oceanography or take photographs of gazelles in the Serengeti, no one would tell him that he should find a more practical career, one that would enable him to pay his bills and support the family he would surely want one day. Isn’t he lucky to have so much? He should be happy, they would say. In fact, he should be ecstatic.”
Little Known Facts is more than the standard Hollywood story – dare I say it would make a great movie?!
4/5 It’s quick and relatively light… and yet it lingers.
My copy of Little Known Facts was supplied courtesy of Bloomsbury via NetGalley.
Slick, fast-paced and with that ‘I-know-it’s-sleazy-but-I-can’t-stop-watching’ element of Entourage, Little Known Facts, the debut novel by Christine Sneed is a brilliant read.
It’s the story of Hollywood movie star, Ren Ivins, and is told from the perspective of the various people around him from his children (Will and Anna) and ex-wives to the kid who looks after props on the set of one of his films. In many ways, Ren is exactly like you would expect -
“‘I’m an ass man and a tits man. Why should I have to choose between the two?’ Indeed. The usual laws of supply and demand do not apply to movie stars.”
And in many ways, Ren is unbelievably insecure.
“I keep two journals – one of them, J1, to be published after my death if the executor of my estate (who is my attorney, not one of my kids) thinks enough people will want to read it. The other journal, J2, I don’t and won’t share with anyone…. This is where I write down the things that I have done or the thoughts I have had that sometimes make it hard to sleep at night. I can’t talk to my psychiatrist about these things because I don’t want him to think badly of me…”
The narrator changes with each chapter. Elements of the over-arching story are presented as snapshots within the context of each character, progressing the story in a series of small but satisfying jumps. By structuring the story this way, Sneed slowly peels back layers of the main players and in doing so, reveals them for who they truly are. Cleverly, Sneed manages to do this on many levels from major plot points to seemingly inconsequential asides (who knew a pair of RayBans could reveal so much?).
This novel is not the lightweight it may first appear. Sneed’s writing is perfectly paced and her observations injected with wry humour.
“Sometimes, to get ahead, to step out of the rapids that are rushing you toward nowhere but death, you have to do a thing or two that wouldn’t make your parents or the president or your therapist proud.”
Sneed also gives her characters believable neediness – not in a ‘I’m a movie star so look at me’ kind of way but rather she hones in on the insecurities experienced by those living in Ren’s reflected glory. And herein lies the paradox – Renn’s kids want for nothing. They have wealth, associated fame and relative anonymity but we discover that it all comes at a price – insecurity, a lack of ambition (in the case of Will) and trouble trusting others. As Will says -
“He knows that he could do anything he wants to with his life. If he wanted to study oceanography or take photographs of gazelles in the Serengeti, no one would tell him that he should find a more practical career, one that would enable him to pay his bills and support the family he would surely want one day. Isn’t he lucky to have so much? He should be happy, they would say. In fact, he should be ecstatic.”
Little Known Facts is more than the standard Hollywood story – dare I say it would make a great movie?!
4/5 It’s quick and relatively light… and yet it lingers.
My copy of Little Known Facts was supplied courtesy of Bloomsbury via NetGalley.
March 6, 2013
Wow, what a read! Christine Sneed's writing is interesting and admirable. The book is split into different POV's of the central character, Renn Ivins, the global movie star, and how he affects the people in his life. What I like most is her subtlties. Her characters have depth, even when they're not meant to. I would not say they are caricatures of the Hollywood life which is refreshing. Yes, they have money, but it isn't glamorously written a la Gossip Girl.
Everything about the chapters felt real. The hatred, jealousy, guilt, and sins felt real. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it felt like an expose, but it was a little more to it, a little bit more detail than the average fan gets from gossip magazines. I LOVED that it wasn't cliche with the drugs and fallen stars. Again, Sneed is a subtle writer. I also liked that though one of the themes seemed to be about cheating, I'm glad it wasn't preachy for or against it. Emily Giffin attempted this (with success) to justify the actions of cheaters, but in this book, it was something that affected every person and it was just a fact. It's something we all know: people cheat.
It wasn't sex heavy (there was sex, but it wasn't overly descriptive or gross) and it wasn't foul-mouth. Neither of which bother me much, but I'm glad she didn't go in that direction. It took me to the last chapter before I realized there wasn't really a plot. And I loved that. It kept me reading through all the chapters, wanting to know more and more about each person. I'm not big on fame and don't quite understand it, but I think that's because I've been around it and it seems rather stressful. This book won't make you want to be famous or desire a movie star and that's fantastic, because the world is filled with people like that.
The characters might read like they aren't developed or cliche, but take the time to swallow the passages. I felt like I was in the shoes of every person and at the same time asking myself why are they feeling this way or acting this way? Sneed also has some killer lines in there. The book has more internal dialogue and descriptors too.
I was hoping for just a bit more closure at the end. I was surprised to turn the page and see that I had reached the end. So I went back and reread the last paragraph and it was rather poetic. Not entirely gratifying, some story lines left open, BUT sums the story up as a whole. You know... I'm going to go ahead and change my rating to a five, because this has been one of the first contemporary stories I've read in a long time that have plenty beneath the surface. The kind of deep reading that keeps me going back to classics. There's a bit of love and rage that stirs the reader as well. And it attempts to reveal a truth among the rich and famous that is very easy to conclude but hard to admit. And it didn't have a dramatic ending or just ending.
Everything about the chapters felt real. The hatred, jealousy, guilt, and sins felt real. I thoroughly enjoyed it because it felt like an expose, but it was a little more to it, a little bit more detail than the average fan gets from gossip magazines. I LOVED that it wasn't cliche with the drugs and fallen stars. Again, Sneed is a subtle writer. I also liked that though one of the themes seemed to be about cheating, I'm glad it wasn't preachy for or against it. Emily Giffin attempted this (with success) to justify the actions of cheaters, but in this book, it was something that affected every person and it was just a fact. It's something we all know: people cheat.
It wasn't sex heavy (there was sex, but it wasn't overly descriptive or gross) and it wasn't foul-mouth. Neither of which bother me much, but I'm glad she didn't go in that direction. It took me to the last chapter before I realized there wasn't really a plot. And I loved that. It kept me reading through all the chapters, wanting to know more and more about each person. I'm not big on fame and don't quite understand it, but I think that's because I've been around it and it seems rather stressful. This book won't make you want to be famous or desire a movie star and that's fantastic, because the world is filled with people like that.
The characters might read like they aren't developed or cliche, but take the time to swallow the passages. I felt like I was in the shoes of every person and at the same time asking myself why are they feeling this way or acting this way? Sneed also has some killer lines in there. The book has more internal dialogue and descriptors too.
I was hoping for just a bit more closure at the end. I was surprised to turn the page and see that I had reached the end. So I went back and reread the last paragraph and it was rather poetic. Not entirely gratifying, some story lines left open, BUT sums the story up as a whole. You know... I'm going to go ahead and change my rating to a five, because this has been one of the first contemporary stories I've read in a long time that have plenty beneath the surface. The kind of deep reading that keeps me going back to classics. There's a bit of love and rage that stirs the reader as well. And it attempts to reveal a truth among the rich and famous that is very easy to conclude but hard to admit. And it didn't have a dramatic ending or just ending.
January 8, 2013
A definition of insanity is being out of touch with reality. By that designation every modern-day celebrity and their entourages are psychiatrically disordered. If you have any interest in the subtle intricacies of the madness affecting those surrounding the current royalty, receiving coronation by the media and fan culture, read this book. By following the lives of people who are sucked into orbit by the gravitational pull of a Hollywood A-list movie star this work investigates the Icarus-like effects of flying too close to a blazing celestial or celebrated body. I think anyone who has waited in a check-out line at the supermarket realizes the obvious rewards and hazards of celebrity, and the characters in this book navigate them nimbly and in most cases without naïveté, but what I found fascinating about this exploration was the illustration, not only of the sizzling and acerbic effect of a star's presence in one's life, but also the consequences of their absence should one become accustomed to life around the limelight. Having worked on both sides of the camera for most of my life, I have heard it said that if one is very bad in this life, they come back as the child of a celebrity as punishment, and Ms. Sneed pays particular attention to the struggles a child of either sex has mining their own identity in both the illumination and shadow of a stellar parent. This book is also important because through its character’s different perspectives of life with a film star, often created by happenstance, it asks us to imagine how our own seemingly sane psyches might respond if they were caught in the astrophysical forces of unreality a star’s involvement in our lives would create. Enjoy.
March 9, 2013
The title of Christine Sneed’s stunning debut novel, "Little Known Facts," is deceptively telling. The book is about celebrity culture and how we, the adoring public, ravenously devour every last bite of juicy gossip about the celebrities we worship, to the point where we think we know every little detail about our idols, when in fact we know very little at all. Through a collection of monologues, told in documentary style by the characters that inhabit a fictional Hollywood family, Sneed puts a lens on this celebrity culture and shows that these larger-than-life creatures are as fallible as the rest of us – maybe even more so. Strip away all the glamour and they are not all that different from you or me – they are human after all, and thus subject to all the same erratic emotions that the rest of us experience, only on a grander scale. To me, this made them infinitesimally more interesting than the disposable characters that I see on Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight. We see that the small pieces of their lives that they choose to reveal to us tell only a small part of their true stories. They are as fictional as the characters they portray. Sneed imagines these insider stories so vividly that as you read her words you see these characters as clearly as if they were in the room with you. If "Little Known Facts" is a sign of what is to come from Christine Sneed, look for her to be strolling down the red carpet one day – it may just be that a new literary star has been born.
February 22, 2013
The majority of the books I've read lately have been chosen based on reviews from this website. This one, however, I just happened across in the new release section of the library and I am so glad I checked it out. I really enjoyed the unusual narrative style the author used...each chapter being told by different people who are linked together in the life of a famous movie star. I just really enjoyed various little nuggets of truth buried throughout....just really truthful, realistic characters. Not that I know any movie stars or even relatives of movie stars for that matter. I think one thing that makes this novel stand out is that it is totally character driven. The plot is totally secondary to the characters. And normally, that would probably make for one boring rad, but somehow this author just nailed it. I loved, loved, loved the last few paragraphs. So much, that I am going to copy them here so I can read them whenever I want. 'The choices we make and the choices that we allow to be made for us: these are the raw materials that compose our lives. Some days it feels to me as if I am stepping out of a dark theater into the brilliant sun of early afternoon-for a few moments I can't see anything, and when my ghostly surroundings start to reclaim a more corporeal form, I worry that they won,t be recognizable. Because at times they aren't. I can only hope that I have loved the people closest to me more than I have harmed them. This is something, however, that I don't think anyone can know for sure."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2012
We all love to read the tabloids. We have read again and again about how the perks of fame just ain't what they're cracked up to be. Nothing new here. This novel attempts to pursue this logic once again, but also attacks from the point of view of those surrounding Renn Irvins, the megastar at its center. Although many of these interlocking stories are told in first person, there is not much variation in the tone or material contained therein. The voices melt into one another.
The reader is expected to be surprised that the Star's reflected glory doesn't extend to his family, but the picture of Irvins himself is so bland, it is baffling how he could have reached such empyrean heights of fame. The one point that is original is that it's no picnic being the child/wife/consort of such a person. Those surrounding Irvins are miserably trying to forge identities and are constantly suspicious of those they meet as to motivation -- does he/she want to know me or my father/husband? In the end, there is too much lovey-dovey content which ends up being as empty as the lives Sneed is attempting to portray.
The reader is expected to be surprised that the Star's reflected glory doesn't extend to his family, but the picture of Irvins himself is so bland, it is baffling how he could have reached such empyrean heights of fame. The one point that is original is that it's no picnic being the child/wife/consort of such a person. Those surrounding Irvins are miserably trying to forge identities and are constantly suspicious of those they meet as to motivation -- does he/she want to know me or my father/husband? In the end, there is too much lovey-dovey content which ends up being as empty as the lives Sneed is attempting to portray.
May 1, 2014
I have never read a book of more contrived, boring characters. Everyone was a archetype of a stereotype and it was tedious and boring and tedious all over again. I hesitated giving this book one star because it was so irrational.
Everything is such a pain for these poor white middle class people. The son in the book was about as charismatic as a moist towelette and the daughter made a series of really stupid decisions that were in no way justified or even rationalised in her own mind and the mother/father dynamic was irritating and so put-upon. I felt like I'd read the stories of these characters a hundred different times before the author unceremoniously dumped all these caricatures in the one book.
In any case, unless you enjoy reading about unlikeable people having entirely unrealistic and stupid existential crisis' then you should steer clear of this.
Everything is such a pain for these poor white middle class people. The son in the book was about as charismatic as a moist towelette and the daughter made a series of really stupid decisions that were in no way justified or even rationalised in her own mind and the mother/father dynamic was irritating and so put-upon. I felt like I'd read the stories of these characters a hundred different times before the author unceremoniously dumped all these caricatures in the one book.
In any case, unless you enjoy reading about unlikeable people having entirely unrealistic and stupid existential crisis' then you should steer clear of this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2013
Love this book! I work for the publisher so was able to read it when we acquired it and I think it's a beautiful exploration of the effects of fame and fortune on the people related to the famous and fortunate.
Renn Ivins is a huge movie star, I pictured him as George Clooney or Robert Redford, with a great career and a complicated family life including adult children struggling to find themselves outside of their famous dad and several ex wives. All of these people orbit around him and are obsessed with him but it's hard to see where their relationships are genuine. Christine Sneed captures it all wonderfully and I absolutely recommend this book.
Renn Ivins is a huge movie star, I pictured him as George Clooney or Robert Redford, with a great career and a complicated family life including adult children struggling to find themselves outside of their famous dad and several ex wives. All of these people orbit around him and are obsessed with him but it's hard to see where their relationships are genuine. Christine Sneed captures it all wonderfully and I absolutely recommend this book.
January 9, 2013
Memo to readers: Check out the title of the book and its chapters — it's not a Hollywood expose, but a serious, probing, thoughtful and thought-provoking first novel by an incredibly perceptive writer of little known facts. Ms. Sneed refracts the lives of the various Ivins (and ex-Ivins) family members who could be celebrities in any field — or you or I. As in her short story collection, "Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry," in this book too Ms. Sneed elevates the mundane into art. She is a very gifted writer. I like her writing a lot.
March 11, 2013
Christine has written a surprising, thoughtful, hard-to-put down, morally nuanced look at celebrity and Hollywood. This is what novels are for: looking at the bits of life that make celebrities human and ordinary people--in this case, the people who surround a famous movie star—special. I love the book's structure--we look at a new point of view in almost every chapter, with returns to a few favorite characters. It's always interesting to see how each new perspective sheds new light on this world.
March 13, 2016
This was a strange read, as other reviews have mentioned it is almost plot-free. But it was very convincing, sympathetic portrait of what it might be like to be a stratospherically famous movie star, or to be a member of his family or inner circle. It was told from various perspectives and at times it felt so real to me I almost felt like I was somehow eavesdropping on actual people. I enjoyed this very much but I can see how it would not be everyone's cup of tea.
April 16, 2013
What a great debut novel by my long time friend, Christine Sneed. Well developed characters, and written from multiple points of view. The book centers on an ultra famous movie star, his family, and all the baggage that goes along with fame. Very well executed, and it kept me interested all the way through.
October 7, 2012
I loved this book, an insider's look at fame - it was such a treat to read, I never wanted it to end! Even if you aren't the sort of person who compulsively reads People magazine, US Weekly, etc., you should still enjoy this look at what a culture that deifies actors does to everyone involved. A fantastic and engrossing read!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews