San Remo Drive

by Leslie Epstein

Book Overview

"One of the four best Hollywood novels ever written." --Elizabeth Frank, New York Times Book Review "Epstein is a master storyteller at the height of his powers." --Jonathan Kirsch, Los Angeles Times... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590510666
• ISBN13: 9781590510667
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Other Press (NY)
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Engaging semi-autobiography

"San Remo Drive" is a pseudo-autobiography, a fiction novel using real people as templates, real events as scenarios in the book, and a bit of imagination for entertainment and the purpose of sending a message. I finished the whole book in one sitting and I can't recommend it highly enough. The protagonist of the novel is Richard Jacobi, whom we understand to be Leslie Epstein's alter ego. His father, Norman, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, dies after driving his car into a tree when Richard is a teenager and this catastrophic event changes Richard's life. This parallels the death of Epstein's own father, Philip G. Epstein, who wrote the screenplays of "Casablanca" and "Arsenic and Old Lace," when he was 14. Richard's mother, Lotte, a beautiful socialite, struggles to hold the family (which also includes Richard's brother, Barton, who probably has ADHD and is mildly retarded but has a way of stating truths that other characters avoid) together after this horrible event with limited success. The novel is written in a series of episodes. In the first episode, Lotte dates Rene, a French painter whom Richard, a very talented artist, dislikes intensely. His memory constitutes a scene on a beach in which he expresses his dislike for Rene to Lotte and Rene himself. Lotte ignores his warnings and marries Rene anyway, at which point Rene loots her accounts and they are divorced. In the next episode, Norman testifies hilariously before the House Committee on Un-American Activites (an episode which actually happened to Philip Epstein). He returns home to backlash from his conservative neighbors, and sends Richard and Barton on a sightseeing trip to New Mexico so they can avoid the situation. While driving around, they receive word that Norman has died (obviously, this book is not in chronological order). They return home and the turmoil begins. The next episode chronicles Richard's desire to lose his virginity. He returns home from Yale for Christmas (his mother has had to sell their house on San Remo Drive to pay for his tuition) and goes to Tijuana with Barton and some friends, where they wind up in erotic clubs and eventually meet up with prostitutes, fulfilling their desires. In the final episode, Richard finds some African-American men working under his house to repair their sewer. He invites them to swim in the family pool and tries to convince them to vote for Truman, which doesn't work and ends up offending the men, who are disillusioned with American politics. One of the men later tells the Jewish Richard horror stories about the Holocaust while his friend molests Richard. They are interrupted by Barton. The latter half of the book departs from the reality of Leslie Epstein's life. It occurs when Richard has grown up, gotten married, and bought back the house on San Remo Drive. He has made a name for himself painting nude pictures of his childhood sweetheart, Madeline, and is about to open an exhibition in Paris. He and his wife, Marcia,

masterpiece

I just read San Remo Drive in one sitting. At the end of each chapter I couldn't keep myself from going on to the next. The story is so naturally told, and so intimate, you can't believe how it all comes together. This is the story of a family that keeps together through everything, holding fast, only breaking apart and disappearing to return anew, like memories. An astonishing work, and a literary marvel. San Remo Drive is a masterpiece. I want to read everything Epstein has written now.

a success.

epstein does not shy away from the ugly, the raw, the core. with wit, eloquence, sensitivity, and a profound insightfulness unique to only a few writers, he has created a a masterpiece.

Buy the book. Read the book. Love the book.

Leslie Epstein's novel of a childhood/adolescence in mid-century Hollywood as told by the novel's narrator, painter Richard Jacobi, is a mix of memory and fiction that illuminates expansive themes with excellent prose in a brave, sometimes controversial, always entertaining style that can be expected from a great writer who always seems to have a great story to tell. The first half of the book is four tales that each focus on a life-changing event and are brought alive by the surrounding narration. In this section, the writing is direct and unapologetic, recounting instances both pleasurable and painful with a candor that at times borders on the dispassionate but nonetheless evokes a range of emotion: loneliness, irony, love, lust, betrayal-and at times caused me to laugh until I cried. Though comprised of separate instances going back and forth over different periods of time and involving very different circumstances, this first half strives for a level of wholeness and unity that, for the most part, is achieved. The second half of the novel is set many years later and features Richard moving back to his old family house on San Remo Drive with his wife and adopted twin sons. From this point the novel flows much more smoothly, and the fact that it is one continuous story without chronology shifts doesn't hurt. For me, the highlight of the entire novel appears here, in the characterization of Richard's wife, Marcia. At the end of the day she is the most honest and true of all of them (and funny as hell, too). Her jealousy of Richard's ever-present muse, Madeline, and the events that unfold as a result are at once hilarious, shocking, and complex, and above all relevant to everyone who, as human nature often demands, gives too much of themselves to too many people. I enjoyed the book immensely as a lovely tie-together of past, present and future, of homage to family and the effect it has on art (both fictional and real), and of identity, love and life through generations.

Memories

Epstein at his very best- a poignant memoir of his boyhood in the Hollywood of the '50's. It is the story of excruciating loss and the painful task of revisiting his past. Against the backdrop of Malibu, lemon groves, sunshine and his beloved home on San Remo Drive, he weaves the story of his own redemption through Richard Jacobi, the narrator.I couldn't put the book down.