The Boys in the Mail Room

by Iris Rainer Dart

Paperback. Fiction

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Iris Rainer Dart is the author of eight novels, including the much-beloved New York Times bestseller Beaches. The mother of two children, she lives in California with her husband.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was around 16 I couldn’t get enough of trashy novels. One of them was...

http://sleaze-factor.blogspot.com/201...

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was given to me as a bit of a joke, since I work in the film industry. Set in the 1960s it tells the story of four young men who start in a studio mail room and work their way up to positions of power in Hollywood. It is ridiculously dated and a bit like a Jackie Collins book. I just thought it was funny how very different things were then and how many cliches the story presented. Definitely an amusing read for anyone in the industry.

[Cody VC · Rating 2 out of 5]

would be 3 for indulgence, but 2 is being honest. picked this up in new hampshire for a buck because HE LOVED THE WRONG SEX - and boy is it good good trash. (there's one bit where the gay guy is having sex, sixtynine-ing even, and he's focusing on how hairless they are like baby angels and i was just laughing so hard because oh my god)

i was actually surprised by how kindly the gay people were treated for a book of its time, until the main one basically went straight and that was the happy ending, so, lol. that's not a spoiler because, really, this book is pretty predictable; the only thing that i was honestly caught unawares by was which one died.

[Lori Schiele · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book about four young men who, for different reasons, get jobs working in the mail room of a movie production company in Los Angeles (trying to get acting jobs), starting in the late 1950's and it follows them all the way through to the 1980's as they make their way out of the mail room to work their way up and down trying to become bigger and famous names.

It reminds me of Jackie Collins novels that I used to read a long time ago--dealing with swindling, cheating, drugs, murder, homosexuality, and a lot of other "soap opera"-type topics. The thing that bothered me the most was that there was a lot of sexual scenes that were much more crude and pornographic than was necessary. Sex scenes are fine, but the language used (the "C" word was used A LOT) that I did not feel were necessary.

I enjoyed the book--the development of the characters, the plot, how the four young men grew into grown men. The only thing that I did not like was the multitude of crude sexual scenes that I did not feel were necessarily and were definitely overdone. That is the only reason I only gave it 3 stars rather than 4.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first, I loved it! I really liked the setting and the first few characters in the first part of the book, but then it just kind of faded out... It was a drag with way too many characters to keep track off (I couldn't for my life tell the difference between David and Stan for example), and all the executive directors and producers and movie producers and studio people and music managers and all these people with titles, it just got dragged out to read those paragraphs where I felt like Iris Rainer-Dart just wanted to name as many people's names as she could.
It was partially interesting with an engaging plot, and I did feel for these characters. But it was also equally dull, equally boring at times and definitely equally depressing, both when it came to the industry and all the bad things that happened to the characters.
I also thought it was not very credible at times, and flat at times as well.
I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, some parts were good, almost really good even, but most of the time I just kept waiting for it to end. But in retrospect, it was an okay book. Nothing special though, for me.

[Alyssa Soussan · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't finish it because it was honestly so bad. like man, it was just not good. it was boring, cliche-filled, downright uncomfortable to read at points, and unless that is somehow what you like, i would not recommend this book.

[Zora · Rating 2 out of 5]

Popular fiction of another generation. The sex was badly done and the ending was totally out of left field...but otherwise, it's competent.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book begins with four separate stories of four young men who each have some sort of personal trauma or let-down: a mother dying tragically, a failed career in acting, a bout with polio, a disowning due to homosexuality. They wind up in the mail room of a major Hollywood studio and all the maneuvering, climbing and falling takes off from there. Naturally, there's a lot of drama and conflict and plenty of sex. The (female) author uses - almost exclusively - the "c" word to describe the women's genetalia, even in the more benign situations, which was surprising and may put off some readers. It's a racy, shallow, hard-edged sort of book with more characters than it seems to need, almost as if the writer thought it would be turned into a glitzy miniseries and wanted to ensure that there would be plenty of parts to cast with various names who have seen better days.

[Brian Hull · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book sucked so bad. What a let down. It was very surprising that my dad's name was mentioned in it though. I remember seeing this book being read by my mom way back when. She never told me that my dad's name was in it though. Plus, Mike Meadevoy was also mentioned in it. I actually worked on his new house in Beverly Park back in 1999-2000. He and his wife Irina were so gracious and down to earth. I would have taken all of these character's stories in a totally different direction. BORING!!!

[Chamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really loved this book it kept me hooked,after i read this i went out and bought all her books except beaches cuz i've already seen the movie.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old favorite! Trash in its purest form, but a great read

[Karen Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

4 men move up in show business by any means. Read 133 pages and quit. Not to my liking, too graphic.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly forgettable.....

[Gary R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trash at its best I read it as a kid and still laugh now!