Big Red : a novel starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles / Jerome Charyn.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Since he first appeared on the American literary scene, Jerome Charyn has dazzled readers with his "blunt, brilliantly crafted prose" (Washington Post). Yet Charyn, a beloved comedic novelist, also possesses an extraordinary knowledge of Golden Age Hollywood, having taught film history both in the United States and France.

With Big Red, Charyn reimagines the life of one of America's most enduring icons, "Gilda" herself, Rita Hayworth, whose fiery red tresses and hypnotic dancing graced the silver screen over sixty times in her nearly forty-year career. The quintessential movie star of the 1940s, Hayworth has long been objectified as a sex symbol, pin-up girl, and so-called Love Goddess. Here Charyn, channeling the ghosts of a buried past, finally lifts the veils that have long enshrouded Hayworth, evoking her emotional complexity--her passions, her pain, and her inner turmoil.

Charyn's reimagining of Hayworth's story begins in 1943, in a roomette at the Hollywood Hotel, where narrator Rusty Redburn--an impetuous, second-string gossip columnist from Kalamazoo, Michigan--bides her time between working as a gofer in the publicity offices of Columbia Pictures, volunteering at an indie movie house, and pursuing dalliances with young women on the Sunset Strip. Called upon by the manipulative Columbia movie mogul Harry "The Janitor" Cohn to spy on Hayworth--then, the Dream Factory's most alluring "dame," and Cohn's biggest movie star--Rusty becomes Rita's confidante, accompanying her on a series of madcap adventures with her indomitable husband, the "boy genius" Orson Welles.

But Rusty, an outlaw who can see beyond the prejudices of Hollywood's male-dominated hierarchy, quickly becomes disgusted with the way actresses, and particularly Rita, are exploited by men. As she struggles to balance the dangerous politics of Tinseltown with her desire to protect Rita from ruffians and journalists alike, Rusty has her own encounters--some sweet, some bruising--with characters real and imagined, from Julie Tanaka, an interned Japanese-American friend, to superstars like Clark Gable and Tallulah Bankhead, as well as notorious Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons.

Reanimating such classic films as Gilda and The Lady from Shanghai, Big Red is a bittersweet paean to Hollywood's Golden Age, a tender yet honest portrait of a time before blockbusters and film franchises--one that promises to consume both Hollywood cinephiles and neophytes alike. Lauded for his "polymorphous imagination" (Jonathan Lethem), Charyn once again has created one of the most inventive novels in recent American literature.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Admittedly this is the first book of Ackerman's that I struggled with. It's not that it wasn't a good book it's more that it just took it's time getting there if that makes sense. It started out really strong, the first couple of chapters were well written and set readers up for an engrossing tale. But then somewhere around the 20% mark it started to lose steam for me. I had a hard time believing that Isabel wanted to go to Hawaii to basically retrace the footsteps of her deceased brother. On the surface it made sense but as we got into the story where she meets Mateo and retracing her brother's favorite spots as a catalyst for their romance just felt weird and off to me. For me it just didn't work and felt a little off. The first half of the book mostly covered Mateo and Isabel going to her brother's favorite spots and Mateo documenting those spots and the whole time I was thinking "Why???? What's the point of this???". And Mateo's devotion to all those spots and memories felt a little weird too. Can't explain it but it just didn't feel fitting some how. I struggled with Lu's parts of the book too. There seemed to be zero connection between Lu and Mateo later on in the book and I just really struggled to get into that part of the story. For some reason this whole book felt very mismatched and strung together but not in a good way. After the 50% mark things eventually picked up and got better (no spoilers!) but by that point I was already feeling disconnected and bored with some of the story. It took too long getting there and getting to the interesting parts for my taste. This was unexpected for me because Ackerman's books have generally been really good. This book started out with her trademark love of Hawaii and it's war time history. I loved that part and I loved the descriptions of the island and it's rugged beauty. But the characters felt lacking for me. While this book didn't excite me as some of Ackerman's other novels, I think it's still worth a read. It's not bad but for me, I felt like her other novels were stronger and I think this one could have been better than it was. Ackerman is still an author that I recommend a lot to readers looking for 'off the beaten path' WWII novels. She is a marvelous writer and I love how she writes and the stories she tells, but in this one I think it could have been better. Admittedly this is the first book of Ackerman's that I struggled with. It's not that it wasn't a good book it's more that it just took it's time getting there if that makes sense. It started out really strong, the first couple of chapters were well written and set readers up for an engrossing tale. But then somewhere around the 20% mark it started to lose steam for me. I had a hard time believing that Isabel wanted to go to Hawaii to basically retrace the footsteps of her deceased brother. On the surface it made sense but as we got into the story where she meets Mateo and retracing her brother's favorite spots as a catalyst for their romance just felt weird and off to me. For me it just didn't work and felt a little off. The first half of the book mostly covered Mateo and Isabel going to her brother's favorite spots and Mateo documenting those spots and the whole time I was thinking "Why???? What's the point of this???". And Mateo's devotion to all those spots and memories felt a little weird too. Can't explain it but it just didn't feel fitting some how. I struggled with Lu's parts of the book too. There seemed to be zero connection between Lu and Mateo later on in the book and I just really struggled to get into that part of the story. For some reason this whole book felt very mismatched and strung together but not in a good way. After the 50% mark things eventually picked up and got better (no spoilers!) but by that point I was already feeling disconnected and bored with some of the story. It took too long getting there and getting to the interesting parts for my taste. This was unexpected for me because Ackerman's books have generally been really good. This book started out with her trademark love of Hawaii and it's war time history. I loved that part and I loved the descriptions of the island and it's rugged beauty. But the characters felt lacking for me. While this book didn't excite me as some of Ackerman's other novels, I think it's still worth a read. It's not bad but for me, I felt like her other novels were stronger and I think this one could have been better than it was. Ackerman is still an author that I recommend a lot to readers looking for 'off the beaten path' WWII novels. She is a marvelous writer and I love how she writes and the stories she tells, but in this one I think it could have been better.

Publishers Weekly Review

Charyn (The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King) plausibly recreates another chapter in American history in this affecting and searing portrait of Silver Screen superstars Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles. Rusty Redburn, "an actress who couldn't act, a dancer who couldn't dance, a singer who couldn't sing," struggles to make ends meet in Los Angeles. She takes a job in the publicity department of Columbia Pictures, tasked with digging up dirt on directors and actors, including those employed by the studio. Her adeptness in the role leads studio head Harry Cohn to plant her in the household of Hayworth and Welles to spy on them while working as their secretary. Redburn finds the assignment challenging, especially after she becomes aware of the shy, insecure personality Hayworth's assured exterior conceals. She sympathizes more and more with her quarry as she learns of Hayworth's past as a victim of abuse by Hayworth's own father and of her desire to improve herself intellectually to be a better match for Welles. Charyn offers rapid-fire dialogue and slapstick action ("So it's a bit of blackmail," Orson says at one point, "lunging" at an adversary though he "wasn't much of a gladiator with his big flat feet") along with affecting character development. It's a rewarding paean to some of cinema's greats. Agent: Georges Borchardt, Georges Borchardt, Inc. (Aug.)

Booklist Review

Celebrity couples have long been a source of endless intrigue, and in Hollywood's Golden Age, the unlikely duo of the Boy Wonder and Big Red, aka Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, garnered big headlines. In Charyn's latest biographical novel, following Sergeant Salinger (2021), movie mogul Harry Cohn wants to keep tabs on the lovers, so he hires Rusty Redburn, a lesbian movie-house owner and underling in the studio's PR department, to act as his personal spy. Almost immediately, Rusty makes herself invaluable to Rita, whose sultry screen persona belies an almost debilitating shyness borne of years of abuse by her father and her ex-husband. The mercurial Welles also finds Rusty useful as his on- and off-screen extravagances contribute to his undoing. Charyn has Rusty recount, film by film, the couple's personal and professional highs and lows, including Hayworth's alcoholism, multiple marriages, and eventual dementia. Thanks to Charyn's lifelong obsession with Welles' Citizen Kane and fascination with Hayworth's fragility, readers benefit from a probing analysis of their seminal films while being treated to an intimate, fly-on-the-wall look at a legendary, tumultuous romance.

Kirkus Book Review

A fictionalized telling of the troubled life and storied film career of Rita Hayworth and her marriage to Orson Welles, as seen through the eyes of a sympathetic outsider. Film-smart and street-smart--if that street happens to be Hollywood Boulevard--the made-up witness, Rusty Redburn, is an Illinois farm girl who dropped out of college to test her fortunes in Tinseltown. She gets a job with Columbia Pictures' publicity department digging up dirt on celebrities. She's so good at it that she's hired by repugnant Columbia head Harry Cohn to spy on the uncontrollable Welles and his wife, Hayworth, whom Cohn lusts after. In her guise as Hayworth's gal Friday, Redburn, a lesbian, comes to care for the actress, whose "crippling fear of her own unworthiness" can be traced back to abuse by her father, her childhood dance partner. But though Redburn idolizes Welles for Citizen Kane, she quickly discovers he's better at acting the role of charmer than actually caring for anyone, including Hayworth, as much as himself--and is physically clumsy to boot. Tracing Hayworth's sad decline through films including Cover Girl, Gilda, and The Lady From Shanghai, the novel has a good time with cutthroat gossip columnists; the ego-driven female film editor who chopped Lady; and crass hustlers including Eddie Judson, Hayworth's first husband, who altered film history by having her hairline raised and the color of her hair changed to her trademark fiery red. Redburn, a serious film buff who writes mimeographed movie reviews as Regina X, is a nifty invention, allowing Charyn the novelist to play Charyn the critic. Hayworth "sang" with her every movement, "in the shake of a shoulder, in the jig of her leg." Kane was "a sarabande of moments." The veteran author's charm and easy sense of irony further lift this surprisingly affecting book. A novel that transcends concept with its human touches. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.