Helpful Score: 1
No wonder this was controversial and became a classic. Very enjoyable.
Helpful Score: 1
This novel is slow in several parts but its satire of Hollywood and its mortuary industry is worth the reading effort, considering that it is short (less than 200 pages). Dennis, a poet, works for a pet embalmer, the Happier Hunting Ground. Mr Joyboy works only on people. He is the senior mortician at a rather exclusive mortuary, Whispering Glades, with its own internment grounds; he is rather an artist at transforming disfigured cadavers. Working with him is Aimée, a college trained beautician turned cosmetician for the mortuary. Joyboy and Dennis fall for Aimée. Aimée is infatuated with Mr Joyboy, but he is mama's boy. Enter Denis. She swoons over his (?) poetry, but becomes disillusioned as he is a plagiarist and a liar. Back to Joyboy! Or is it Dennis again? All the while she corresponds with a pseudo-Guru at the local drivel (excuse me, newspaper) for guidance on love. Confused? You won't be after reading this book! (Isn't that a line from the promo for the TV serial Soap?) However, be prepared for a twist at the end. In all, reading this is well worth the effort for the irony of the ending.
A look at Hollywood's way of life and America's way of death.
