ARC Review: Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: April 30th, 2013
Genre: Adult Fiction
Pages: 352 pgs
ISBN: 9780345532749
Source: Received from Edelweiss in advance for an honest review



Summary from Goodreads:

Franny Banks is a struggling actress in New York City, with just six months left of the three year deadline she gave herself to succeed. But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates-Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material-and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works. Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a funny and charming debut about finding yourself, finding love, and, most difficult of all, finding an acting job.

 

My Review: 

When I heard that the actress who played in one of my favourite TV shows growing up was writing a book I couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  I mean who doesn't want to read a novel written by Lorelai Gilmore?  For those of you who have been living under a rock who don't know who Lauren Graham is, she played Lorelai Gilmore on The Gilmore Girls and also acts in the TV show Parenthood.  

(Sidenote: As evidenced by above, I am a big fan so you can imagine my surprise when Lauren Graham herself favourited one of my tweets.  I had a major case of fan girling!)

 

I have to be honest, while I was excited to read this I wasn't sure how good this book would actually be.  I mean if we're being honest, we have all seen an actor or an actress dabble in other things like singing or writing and it doesn't always turn out to be a positive thing.  I am happy to report that this is not the case for Lauren Graham.  She brings a lot of personality to her writing and it flows really well.  From the moment I picked up the book to the time I put it down I couldn't get enough.  

The book follows Franny, an aspiring actress in New York City, trying to make it big in a tough industry.  Some people wondered how similar this novel would be to Graham's actual life and it seems that this book is not autobiographical.  Yes, Graham was an up and coming actress at one time but I think that this is a good case of "write what you know".  

I have to say that I found this book fascinating.  I have never read a fictional book about the movie/TV industry and I quite enjoyed reading something a little different.  

When actors write novels people often assume that there is some sort of ghostwriter involved and anyone reading this novel and who is familiar with Graham as an actress could tell that this is not the case for this novel.  Franny is a little quirky and fun and you can almost hear Graham in this character.  I loved this character so much and if it were possible I'd love to hang out with her one day.  She's an awkward kid at times but she always gives these one liners that she doesn't even realize are funny until people react well to them.  She is pretty endearing and that's what makes reading this book so enjoyable. 

There are a few minor negatives with this book.  I found that at times you could predict what may happen next.  This is not really all that uncommon with this kind of book but I could see how this may turn some people off.  I, for one, don't mind reading something fun and something that ends well.  Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel.