Hollywood Nobody
by Lisa Samson
Published by NavPress
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Diane Keyes
With a style as bright and breezy as freshly washed clothes hanging on a line, author Lisa Samson’s new offering, Hollywood Nobody, is a joy to read. Her first-person narrative is so authentically adolescent it sparkles and cracks with all the energy of a teenage sleepover.
This book carries the promise of a great new series because of Samson’s solid depiction of her new, irrepressible and tantalizingly complex protagonist, Scotty Dawn—a little bit Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, and a little bit Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, Scotty is a delight.
Along with her slightly ditzy, overage hippy mom, Charley, a food stylist for the movie industry, Scotty moves from one movie location to the next, with only a small RV to call home. Much of the time, it’s difficult to tell who’s raising who, since it’s Scotty’s natural common sense and ingenuity that keep them out of trouble.
Scotty longs for the roots, routine, and relationships that most teenagers find so annoying. And for me, the most charming aspect of Hollywood Nobody is how creatively Scotty uses her talents to find these missing elements in her life.
Charley doesn’t provide for her education so Scotty creates her own challenging curricular. Her vegan mother won’t allow cheese, Scotty’s favorite indulgence, so Scotty enlists the help of the servers at fast food joints to disguise the contraband. Scotty has no grandparents, she finds her own meat-eating grandparents in RV parks. But Scotty’s creativity can’t get her mother to reveal the secret she holds that keeps them living on the edge.
This is the second young adult, Christian fiction book I’ve read recently. The first book, which shall remain nameless, I decided not to review. The story was good but the author was so heavy-handed and preachy in her enthusiasm to convert every reader that I was completely turned off.
On the other hand, Lisa Samson proves talented authors can send a positive Christian message without a club—and to that I say Amen!
Armchair Interviews agrees.