Garbo Laughs

by Elizabeth Hay

This darkly funny novel is set in Ottawa in the 1990s and features Harriet Browning, a middle-aged writer, mother, and wife who is abnormally addicted to watching old movies. As a child, Harriet was forbidden the joys of movie watching, and she is now making up for lost time. She is joined in her obsession by her son, Kenny, who watches classic movies to forget his troubles; her daughter, Jane, who is mesmerized by the glamour of the big screen; and her quirky neighbour and friend, Dinah. Husband, Lew, however, is left out of the Friday night movie club. He escapes everyday life more literally, through business trips to South America.
Enter Harriet's Aunt Leah, a troublesome widow of a Hollywood screenwriter, and her movie-expert stepson Jack, who shake up the quiet but quirky lives of these characters in unforgettable ways. Smouldering resentments surface, allegiances shift, and Harriet and her family find the plots of their beloved films becoming achingly relevant to their own lives.
Obsessing about the movies becomes increasingly irresistible to Harriet. She dreams of opening a vintage movie house; she writes passionate, insightful letters to film critic Pauline Kael, but never mails them. And in the middle of all this emotional upheaval, the infamous ice storm of 1998 hits Ottawa, adding blackouts to the general chaos. Harriet and her family will endure arguments, accidents, illness, and even death before this tale is through.
Author Elizabeth Hay portrays with honesty and humour the harshness of real life as it is juxtaposed against the shimmering world of the cinema. The title, Garbo Laughs, refers to the fact that when film star Greta Garbo laughed, she made no sound. We also learn that when Garbo didn't want to be recognized, she assumed the name Harriet Brown. And so the spirit of the great silver screen icon follows our Harriet as she struggles in the chasm between reality and fantasy.
Elizabeth Hay's previous books, Small Change, and A Student of Weather, have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Giller Prize, respectively. In Garbo Laughs, Hay's astonishingly real portrayal of longing and desire, together with her rich prose style, create a deeply satisfying and greatly entertaining novel.

Publication Date: 2003-09-14
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3151