Mercury Pictures Presents
A Novel
(Sprache: Englisch)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Winner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction • The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini’s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles—a timeless story of...
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Winner of the David J. Langum, Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction • The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini’s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles—a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice from the award-winning author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena“A genuinely moving and life-affirming novel that’s a true joy to read.”—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere
“A gorgeous book . . . sublime.”—The New York Times (Editors’ Choice)
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, The Guardian, Booklist
Like many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every Sunday her father took her to the cinema instead of church, Maria immigrates with her mother to Los Angeles after a childhood transgression leads to her father’s arrest.
Fifteen years later, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, Maria is an associate producer at Mercury Pictures, trying to keep her personal and professional lives from falling apart. Her mother won’t speak to her. Her boss, a man of many toupees, has been summoned to Washington by congressional investigators. Her boyfriend, a virtuoso Chinese American actor, can’t escape the studio’s narrow typecasting. And the studio itself, Maria’s only home in exile, teeters on the verge of bankruptcy.
Over the coming months, as the bright lights go dark across Los Angeles, Mercury Pictures becomes a nexus of European émigrés: modernist poets trying their luck as B-movie screenwriters, once-celebrated architects becoming scale-model miniaturists, and refugee actors finding work playing the very villains they fled. While the world descends into war, Maria rises through a maze of conflicting politics, divided loyalties, and jockeying ambitions. But when the arrival of a stranger from her father’s past threatens Maria’s carefully constructed facade, she must finally confront her
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father’s fate—and her own.
Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents spans many moods and tones, from the heartbreaking to the ecstatic. It is a love letter to life’s bit players, a panorama of an era that casts a long shadow over our own, and a tour de force by a novelist whose work The Washington Post calls “a flash in the heavens that makes you look up and believe in miracles.”
Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents spans many moods and tones, from the heartbreaking to the ecstatic. It is a love letter to life’s bit players, a panorama of an era that casts a long shadow over our own, and a tour de force by a novelist whose work The Washington Post calls “a flash in the heavens that makes you look up and believe in miracles.”
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Lese-Probe zu „Mercury Pictures Presents “
Sunny Siberia1
When you entered the executive offices of Mercury Pictures International, you would first see a scale model of the studio itself. Artie Feldman, co-founder and head of production, installed it in the lobby to distract skittish investors from second thoughts. Complete with back lot, sound stages, and facilities buildings, the miniature was a faithful replica of the ten-acre studio in which it sat. Maria Lagana, as rendered by the miniaturist, was a tiny, featureless figure looking out Artie s office window. And this was where the real Maria stood late one morning in 1941, hands holstered on her hips, watching a pigeon autograph the windshield of her boss s new convertible. She d like to buy that bird a drink.
It s a beautiful day out, Art, Maria said. You should really come have a look.
I have, Artie said. It made me want to jump.
Artie wasn t known for his joie de vivre, but he usually didn t fantasize about ending it all this close to lunch. Maria wondered if the Senate Investigation into Motion Picture War Propaganda was giving him agita, but no the crisis at hand was on his head. His bald spot had finally grown too large for his toupee to conceal.
Six other black toupees were shellacked atop wooden mannequin heads on the shelf behind his desk, where a more successful producer might display his Oscars. They were conversation starters. As in, Artie began conversations with new employees by telling them the toupees were the scalps of their predecessors.
As far as Maria could tell, the six hairpieces were the same indistinguishable model and style, but Artie had become convinced that each one crackled with the karmic energy of the hair s original head, unrealized and awaiting release, like a static charge smuggled in a fingertip. Thus, he d named his toupees after their personalities: The Heavyweight, The Casanova, The Optimist, The Edison, The Odysseus, and The Mephistopheles. Artie had never felt more at home in his
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adoptive country than when he learned the Founding Fathers had all worn toupees, even that showboat John Hancock. The only one who hadn t was Benjamin Franklin. And look how he turned out: a syphilitic Francophile who got his jollies flying kites in the rain.
Maybe the toupee shrunk, he said, still hoping for a miracle.
I think you ll need one with more coverage, Art.
That s the second time this year. Christ, when will it end?
Life s nasty and brutish but at least it s short.
Yeah? I m not so optimistic.
Artie didn t believe in aging gracefully. He didn t believe in aging at all. At fifty-three, he maintained the same exercise regime that had made him a promising semi-professional boxer before a shattered wrist forced him into the only other business to reward his brand of controlled aggression. (He still kept a speedbag mounted to his office wall and liked to pummel it while in meetings with unaccommodating agents.) Sure, maybe he lost a step; maybe his knees sounded like a pair of maracas when he climbed stairs; maybe the boys in the mailroom let him win when he challenged them to arm-wrestling matches but he wasn t getting old.
Or so Maria imagined Artie telling himself. In truth, she d begun to worry about him. In four days, he would sit at a witness table on Capitol Hill, where he would testify alongside the heads of Warner Bros, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount. It was shaping into a pivotal confrontation between campaigners for free speech and crusaders for government censorship. But as far as Maria could tell, Artie was more preoccupied with his toupee than his opening statement.
On the topic of censorship, he said, H
Maybe the toupee shrunk, he said, still hoping for a miracle.
I think you ll need one with more coverage, Art.
That s the second time this year. Christ, when will it end?
Life s nasty and brutish but at least it s short.
Yeah? I m not so optimistic.
Artie didn t believe in aging gracefully. He didn t believe in aging at all. At fifty-three, he maintained the same exercise regime that had made him a promising semi-professional boxer before a shattered wrist forced him into the only other business to reward his brand of controlled aggression. (He still kept a speedbag mounted to his office wall and liked to pummel it while in meetings with unaccommodating agents.) Sure, maybe he lost a step; maybe his knees sounded like a pair of maracas when he climbed stairs; maybe the boys in the mailroom let him win when he challenged them to arm-wrestling matches but he wasn t getting old.
Or so Maria imagined Artie telling himself. In truth, she d begun to worry about him. In four days, he would sit at a witness table on Capitol Hill, where he would testify alongside the heads of Warner Bros, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, and Paramount. It was shaping into a pivotal confrontation between campaigners for free speech and crusaders for government censorship. But as far as Maria could tell, Artie was more preoccupied with his toupee than his opening statement.
On the topic of censorship, he said, H
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Autoren-Porträt von Anthony Marra
Anthony Marra is the New York Times bestselling author of The Tsar of Love and Techno and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, winner of the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and longlisted for the National Book Award.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Anthony Marra
- 2022, Internationale Ausgabe, 432 Seiten, Maße: 15,3 x 23,2 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Hogarth
- ISBN-10: 0593449169
- ISBN-13: 9780593449165
- Erscheinungsdatum: 29.07.2022
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
A gorgeous book . . . sublime. The New York Times (Editors Choice)With Mercury Pictures Presents [Marra] cements himself as one of the most deft and most enjoyable novelists working today. . . . I could go on for pages about my admiration for Marra s technique and execution . . . but what I most recall is the general warmth of feeling every time I . . . spent time in that world. Chicago Tribune
Epically entertaining . . . You ll laugh, you ll cry in the marvelous Mercury Pictures Presents. San Francisco Chronicle
So much old-time snappy wit that Mercury Pictures Presents should come with popcorn and a 78-ounce Coke. Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Marra returns with a sprawling story that ushers readers through the streets of pre-World War II Rome. . . . But as compelling as the story and characters are, the real star is the writing. Marra s ability to capture and render both the joy and pain of life . . . remains unmatched. NPR
Crackling with wit . . . Marra s new novel is as epic in sweep as a movie set yet delineates the inner workings of the human heart with a miniaturist s precision. Mercury Pictures Presents explores the endless give-and-take between life and art, the cost of integrity, and the ways we must make peace with the past in order to move toward the future. Celeste Ng
Marra has been compared to Nabokov, Kafka, and Orwell. The word 'brilliant' gets used in all his reviews. Mercury Pictures Presents is a great literary read. Ann Patchett
Funny, verbally inventive and, ultimately, very moving, Mercury Pictures Presents is a wonderful novel. Sunday Times UK, Book of the Month
Marra has ascended to the top of the literary ranks. Booklist (starred review)
Intimate and sweeping, heartfelt and satirical, one of the funniest and most moving novels I ve read in a long time. Jess Walter
Mercury Pictures Presents has all the
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breadth and power of an epic and the attention to detail of an intimate conversation. I read it in a state of admiration for the beauty Marra has wrung from the English language. Sara Novi
A novel so rich and wondrous . . . that there s only one word for Anthony Marra: genius. Sally Mann
A writer of boundless talent. . . . A singularly pleasurable read smart, sad, hilarious, and always full of heart. Nathan Hill
Achingly beautiful . . . You laugh, then you sigh, then you weep. Luis Alberto Urrea
I laughed aloud many times, even as I marveled. Aimee Bender
An energetic, wildly comical tale . . . Amid all the action and plot twists, it's also a serious examination of immigration and xenophobia, identity and impersonation, and art, propaganda and censorship. BookPage
A novel so rich and wondrous . . . that there s only one word for Anthony Marra: genius. Sally Mann
A writer of boundless talent. . . . A singularly pleasurable read smart, sad, hilarious, and always full of heart. Nathan Hill
Achingly beautiful . . . You laugh, then you sigh, then you weep. Luis Alberto Urrea
I laughed aloud many times, even as I marveled. Aimee Bender
An energetic, wildly comical tale . . . Amid all the action and plot twists, it's also a serious examination of immigration and xenophobia, identity and impersonation, and art, propaganda and censorship. BookPage
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