Got the audio of this book from the library. Its an historical fiction novel about the end of WWI and Charlie Chaplin's exploits in Hollywood during the early days of the studio system. Its a "point in time" type of story where the reader is presented with characters and stories that are kinda already in progress. The story consists of 3 loosely connected story lines; Charlie, where he is working on his film Sunnyside, a wannabe actor who gets sent to France in 1918 and another man sent to fight the Bolsheviks in Russia.It was a pretty good read, not great, but good. I thought it was a bit of a stretch of the linking of the 3 stories. Maybe there's a deeper meaning that I just didn't get. There were a few twists and turns that surprised me. Also, since its a historical fiction story that mixes real characters and events with Gold's inventions, it will be interesting to compare real life to the story.S: 4/6/14 - F: 4/21/14 (16 Days) This is not a bad book, but it really doesn't pack the punch of Glen David Gold's previous book 'Carter Beats the Devil'. There are many different threads, some of which work very well (Chaplain/Pickford/United Artists, Leland Duncan, the Golods), but others than are painfully slow moving with intensely dull characters (Hugo Black). This book really is a mixed bag as I found myself dreading the return of certain threads and skim reading whole chapters.
What do You think about Sunnyside (2009)?
I enjoyed it enough, but not as much as Carter beats the devil. Rather disjointed and dispiriting
—Marine1341
Not nearly as good as Carter Beats the Devil, but a good read nonetheless
—kanti
SDMB recco: bup - fan of author & of historical fiction
—pinky
Ehhhh. Not as good as Carter Beats the Devil.
—ptptpt
