Cheat and Charmer

by Elizabeth Frank

"Dinah Lasker grew up in the shadow of her sister, Veevi, a stunning beauty and emerging star who enchanted both the Hollywood set and its imported New York literati. But thanks to her marriage to Stefan Ventura, a Bulgarian filmmaker and high-profile Communist, Veevi's home was also a hotbed of political activity. At the end of the 1930s, when things went badly for him in Hollywood, Ventura and Veevi fled to Paris and into the lengthening shadows of Hitler and fascism."

Cut to 1951, when Dinah is subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which threatens to ruin her husband, Jake, and derail his successful career as a Hollywood writer, producer, and director unless she cooperates. Can Dinah live with herself if she names Veevi - whom she both loves and loathes - in order to save her husband and preserve her idyllic married life? The choices Dinah makes set in motion an unforgettable chain of events. Like Anna Karenina, Dinah must face the consequences of her choices and her needs.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Naomi Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words can't encompass how awesome this book is. I have read it many times, and have savored its bittersweet mix of frothy high society and post war Hollywood fun and familial betrayal and forgiveness each time.

The author could have presented us with a good girl heroine and a likable bad girl foil, instead she created deep, complex female characters who act like humans do-- making mistakes, forgiving cads, loving family even as they hurt you, spiraling into self destruction over a lost love.

The details in this book are just delightful and there are so many vignettes that thrill: Hollywood in mid-Red-Scare, WWII era diaspora from Europe coming to Hollywood in flight from the Nazis and Stalinism, post war Europe with its crop of blustery, high living foreign correspondents and dames, post war Hollywood during the height of the studio system...you'll love this tender, charming, and satisfying book.

[Nina Draganova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книгата ме завладя, ядоса и разби и последните ми илюзии за човешкия вид . Ужасно реалистична. Началото и края са много силни. Средата е малко скучна. Ето две неща, които ще запомня от всички откровенни мисли , които авторката е написала и сложила в устата на някои герои :

" Америка е най-жестоката и лицемерна държава"


"Да чукаш собствената си жена е все едно да чукаш на вратата на глух " :)

[Tamcamry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Alright, this is the second bad book I’ve had in a row. I’m really hoping my luck will change. There are so many awful things about this book I almost don’t even know where to begin. First this book was pretty unabashedly pro-Communist. It just sort of glossed over the two billion people oppressed by Communist regimes worldwide. It also forgot about the millions murdered for being political enemies of the state in Russia under Stalin. It actually had one character deny that that happened. The other two main characters were scumbags as well. It was impossible for me to root for anyone in this book. More than anything I felt a little sorry for the children mentioned in the book, but I could barely get myself to care about them. The story in the book moved in sort of a fits and starts way. It would tell a little of the story and then all of the sudden it would skip ahead two years. In all, I think the book covered about twelve years of story time. It also had a really odd ending. The ending doesn’t really resolve anything or even give much insight into the main character. Overall, this one is pretty bad.

[Khristin Schachtschneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and, while I could not wait to find out what was going to happen, there is not one, single character that you can actually LIKE as you read this. They are all so flawed. But maybe that is realistic?

[Sheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about famous movie writer/producer/director in Hollywood in the 1930's

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I always lend out. Fantastic writing.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my "I can't go to sleep, so I'll read my Kindle until I pass out."

A well-written book about some truly awful people. I almost cheered when someone got barbecued. (in poor taste, maybe, but she was really horrible and molested a child which seemed like NBD by everyone in the novel).

[Bilyana Gercheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

За мен тази книга е истинско бижу и изненада! Заглавието звучи банално, но книгата е много интересна! Грабваща вниманието история на две сестри, две различни жени на фона на значими исторически събития през 20 век.

[Bethany Foltz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well written, and an amazing story, just very depressing.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This intriguing story primarily takes place in 1930's-1950's Old Hollywood and deals with the multifaceted emotions that result from the choices these characters make. I found this story engrossing b/c I had never read a book that dealt w/ McCarthyism and it's affect on the movers and shakers in Hollywood. The story focuses on two sisters and their love/hate relationship. The story opens as Dinah, the stuttering, less glamorous sister is subpoenaed to "name" her beautiful, shallow, emotionally abusive sister, Veevi, by the Un-American Activities Committee in order to maintain her idyllic life and lifestyle in Hollywood. The story deals w/ the emotions that lead her to make the decision she does and the inevitable aftermath. Despite summer schedules and reading a variety of beach books and traveling a ton I found that I kept going back to this book. I was hooked w/out even knowing it. At times I found all the central characters extremely infuriating but yet the book sucked me in and I couldn't put it down. It will drive you mad b/c the characters are human and fallible and the choices they make have consequences. Specifically, there is a constant tug of war between the characters aspired decisions/moral codes and their actions which is human, but aggravating. At it's heart this is a story of relationships between sisters, families, society.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hollywood during the McCarthy era. Focused on woman surrounded by cheaters and charmers, namely her husband and sister. Dinah Milligan is stuttering main character who testifies in exchange for her husband's film career. She feels guilty from then on, and is shunned by many Communists who refused to testify and endured the consequences. She feels responsible for her sister's subsequent death and eventually finds out what kind of man her husband really is. Not clear how she'll come through at the end....Not sure if the stuttering was some Freudian thing, but probably was it was such an obstruction to fluid reading. Her husband was big into Freud too, so it was pretty heavy-handed....(Gift from the Muchmores.)

[AJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a hard time determing if this was historical fiction or just simple fiction so I ended up putting it on both shelves.

The benefit here, as a reader, is you are completely entertained and entranced by the lives of this hollywood family while still being swept into an educational book about life in the 50's with the red fear sweeping throughout the country: McCarthyism.

The story is part romance, part fiction, part dysfunctional family. There are politics but they are so well embedded into the story that you don't get lost on their details, however as a reader who likes to learn a little bit of history, you will also feel fulfilled reading this novel.

The writing is tight and the characters jump off the page. I highly recommend this book.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this for the second time - I first read it in 2004, but re-visited it again this past week. I have always been intrigued by old Hollywood and love to read anything that allows me to glimpse into that world. I picked this up at an airport and read it in a matter of days. It was fun to guess which characters represented which 'real life' stars. I felt both compassion and infuriation with the main character as she dealt with all the awful people in her family and life at a tumultuous time when McCarthyism ruled Hollywood. A good read - highly recommended!

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was a book where all the characters were really hard to like. even the protagonist, is annoyingly loyal and self-deprecating, to the point where you just want to slap her upside the head sometimes. although the glimpse into mccarthyism's affect in hollywood was interesting, overall, the book left something to be desired. engaging at points, towards the very end, the characters just became too odious for me to care one way or another what happened to them.

[Angela Natividad · Rating 2 out of 5]

In maybe 500 pages too many, Frank's novel only confirms that LA society women, lusting after la dolce vita, are no different from their New York counterparts: They lie, cheat and get addicted to sleeping pills.

Who in hell compared this to "The Sun Also Rises"? Think more along the lines of "Valley of the Dolls," except Frank is apparently dead-serious about trying to turn her allegory into epic. No thank you.

[Alistair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently 25 years in the writing, and it shows. The detail in which the period of early 1950s Hollywood is evoked and the depth of characterisation is beautifully observed. This is a big, glorious novel that you can really sink your teeth into, with people that leap off the page and linger in your mind.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't actually finish this book. I didn't like it much at all, but I'm giving it an extra star for a really interesting premise, and because the author writes well. But I hated all the characters so much that I was dreading picking it up, so I finally just stopped. I'll skim to see how it ends, maybe....

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a trashy novel about Hollywood. Yum! It is a little bit too long, but if you enjoy the husband that sleeps around, the loyal wife, the slutty sister, and trying to figure out who the characters are in real life, then you'll have fun.

[Mulva · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is about so many things; early Hollywood, the destruction caused by the McCarthy hearings, husbands and wives, sibling rivalry, loyalty, and love. The characters are all too real. I wanted so badly to know who each of these characters might have been based in the real Hollywood.

[Marion · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pulitzer-winning biographer (the life of poet Louise Bogan) uses her own family background for a novel about Hollywood. Quite interesting if you know the real-life identities of her characters, less so if you don't. Still, a lot of time and effort must have gone into this book.

[Aileen rankin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every word in this book,the flawed characters,the horrid blacklisting which even today very few people are aware of and the glory of Hollywood,beverly hills and making movies.

It's beautifully written and I only hope Elizabeth Frank is working on another novel.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very cute book. If you enjoy stories about women in the U.S. in the 40s and later this is a great read. It depicted what it might have been like for those in Hollywood during the time. It was interesting and well written.

[Lupine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great summer read. Wonderful insight into the Hollywood scene during McCarthyism.

[Dori James · Rating 5 out of 5]

How the McCarthy era affected people in America

[Renée · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read about Hollywood during the McCarthy era.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the fact that each sister is more infuriating than the next, I was fully sucked into their disfunction and the rather unique perspective of the time.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susan recommended this... good read..

[Lisa]

I picked this up at the dollar store, hopefully it's worth more than that!

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

enh. Started out GREAT, interesting view into Hollywood in the 40s and 50s...but the story just couldn't keep me going. I started hating all of the characters. A lot. Beautifully written!

[Kimma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't care enough about the characters to stick with this past the first 100 pages or so.