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Limelight: A Novel
Limelight: A Novel
Limelight: A Novel
Audiobook12 hours

Limelight: A Novel

Written by Amy Poeppel

Narrated by Carly Robins

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

In a smart and funny novel by the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed “big-hearted, charming” (The Washington Post) Small Admissions, a family’s move to New York City brings surprises and humor.

Allison Brinkley—wife, mother, and former unflappable optimist—discovers that her decision to pack up and move her family from suburban Dallas to the glittery chaos of Manhattan may have been more complicated than she and her husband initially thought. New York is more unruly and bewildering than she expected, defying the notions she developed from romantic movies and a memorable childhood visit. After a humiliating call from the principal’s office and the loss of the job she was counting on, Allison begins to accept that New York may not suit her after all.

When she has a fender-bender, witnessed by a flock of mothers at her son’s new school, she is led to the penthouse apartment of a luxurious Central Park West building and encounters a spoiled, hungover, unsupervised teenager who looks familiar. It doesn’t take long to recognize him as Carter Reid—a famous pop star who has been cast in a new Broadway musical. Through this brush with stardom, Allison embraces a unique and unexpected opportunity that helps her find her way in the heart of Manhattan.

“A tribute to Broadway, teen celebrity life, and a mother who has now seen it all, this work is tough love at its finest and a great read for those wanting a ride on the wild side” (Booklist, starred review).
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 1, 2018
ISBN9781508257080
Author

Amy Poeppel

Amy Poeppel is the award-winning author of the novels The Sweet Spot, Musical Chairs, Limelight, and Small Admissions. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Rumpus, Literary Hub, and Working Mother. She and her husband have three sons and split their time between New York City, Germany, and Connecticut. She would love to hear from you on Twitter or Instagram: @AmyPoeppel or at AmyPoeppel.com.

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Reviews for Limelight

Rating: 4.174107144642857 out of 5 stars
4/5

112 ratings12 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow one of the best books I have listened to in a long time....it came as such a surprise too. I had just randomly come across it when in between books and I am so glad I did.

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is touching and very funny! I enjoyed it very much

    2 people found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    WOW! I really enjoyed this book. Before reading it I wondered what I had thought of Amy's debut novel, Small Admissions, loved that too according to my review and this book didn't let me down. I loved the characters, and even though I would never live in NYC the author made for a great story about moving into a new life with a complicated family as a unit. I also can't wait to read the new book out, Musical Chairs.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thought it was going to be another story about a woman left by her husband. Turned out it was a wonderful fun book about working as a PA and Broadway. Same person could appear again
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Shallow characters in a shallow book, but it is fun and escapist.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting view of NYC and celebrity life, all while keeping family real, and recognizing one of the great silent films. I liked it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I persuaded my local library to acquire this book because I loved "Small Admissions" so much. Unfortunately, I was less keen on this one. The first few chapters were excellent as Allison adjusted to living in New York and wrangled her family and was excellent at her teaching job, only to have it withdrawn after one day. I also appreciated the fact that she had a happy marriage and was a good enough mother. It was very funny and warm hearted with a bit of an edge, for example in the scene where Allison is sacked from her writing coach job.However, once it focussed on Carter and on Allison's overwhelming urge to help and mentor and mother him, despite the fact that he was ungrateful and rude and generally unpleasant, I lost interest a bit. This section went on and on and on. Allison's poor family only really existed in so far as they enabled her to devote herself to Carter. What was so compelling about him? I would have taken the turtle and left.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Brinkley family of five has just relocated to New York City from Dallas, Texas. Allison’s husband was offered a promotion and the whole family was excited to try something new. Their new home in a small cramped apartment seems a small sacrifice for this golden opportunity. Collectively, they anticipate a few stumbles after leaving behind lifelong friends and a comfortable home. Things do not go as planned for Allison when her teaching job falls through. Her children begin to have problems adjusting socially leaving her two daughters unhappy and her son getting disciplined at school. Her optimistic view of city life wanes further when she hits a parked car in front of school moms. Her attempt to pass on insurance details becomes the start of better times. She meets a foul-mouthed, hungover, teenager and realizes he is a famous pop star. He is living alone and Allison becomes concerned for his well being. She becomes the parent he never had while providing the managerial talent to get his career back on track. This is the second novel written by Amy Poeppel and I am a fan of both of her books. Limelight provides a view of life through the lens of a mom juggling the demands of a family in the diverse and chaotic city of New York.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Allison decides that her husband should accept job promotion because it would be wonderful for her family (two teenager daughters and a son) to move to NYC - the most wonderful place in the world to live. She soon finds out that living in NYC is full of problems - her daughters had to leave friends and boyfriends and blame her for the move, she doesn't know anyone and can't find a job, her apartment is so much smaller than her house and life is full of lots of new problems. And then to top it all off, she has a fender bender in front of her son's school with all of the unfriendly mom's looking on. As she realizes that this move may have been a big mistake, something happens that may turn out to be her way into New York society - it will either make life better or she will fail miserably and be ready to return to Texas.This is a fun read, full of humor as Allison tries to adjust to life in New York plus sullen children who are not happy with the move. I laughed constantly and some of the situations that she got herself into as she was trying to find her way to a normal life for her family.This is a light fun book and I highly recommend it.Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    LITERARY FICTIONAmy PoeppelLimelight: A NovelAtria/Emily Bestler BooksHardcover, 978-1-5011-7637-1 (also available as an e-book, an audio book, and on Audible), 416 pgs., $26.00May 1, 2018Allison Brinkley’s family is discombobulated. They’ve just moved from suburban Dallas to the heart of Manhattan. Husband and father Michael is nervous about his new job. The substitute teaching position Allison had lined up falls through. Seventeen-year-old Charlotte had to change schools for senior year, leaving behind her first boyfriend. Fourteen-year-old Megan’s grades are dropping and she’s acting out, dealing with hormones. Speaking of hormones, eight-year-old Jack discovers one of those your-body-is-changing-in-new-and-confusing-ways books, which ended up in one of his moving boxes by mistake, and he’s got questions.When Allison sideswipes a mirror off the door of a BMW, she meets Carter Reid, a Justin Bieber sort, once a charming, dimpled child crooner turned churlish, out-of-control, pop-singing bad boy. Allison accidentally becomes Carter’s personal assistant after discovering him in the ugly aftermath of a drug-infused bender with his entourage, and it’s her job to ensure Carter is ready for his Broadway debut, an adaptation of the Charles Chaplin 1952 classic film Limelight.Limelight: A Novel is the second book from Amy Poeppel, following the critically acclaimed Small Admissions: A Novel (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, 2016). Limelight is a fun, charming, and surprisingly touching tale about the meaning of home and human connections in a world moving at an ever-accelerating pace into what often seems an ever-increasing superficiality.When I was sixteen I moved from Odessa, Texas, to SoCal—that’s Southern California for you uncool people. And I was uncool there; it was like getting sucked through a wormhole and landing in a galaxy far, far away. Limelight opens as Allison stands in the doorway of her new tenth-floor apartment wondering if she needs a doormat in a carpeted hallway and how to trick-or-treat in a high-rise. The refrigerator is wood-paneled, a “barren expanse” upon which magnets won’t stick. Allison’s mother can’t imagine why Allison would trade their house in Texas for a New York apartment; it’s “like going from an Escalade to a Vespa.” It’s the small things that bring home a profound sense of dislocation.Limelight is like one of those Russian matryoshka dolls, a story within a story within a story. It’s cleverly plotted and fast paced, populated with a variety of interesting characters. A handful are merely two-dimensional types, but many others who are complex and intriguing and fully capable of surprising us. Allison is thoroughly loveable, a bit naïve and trying her best to apply her Texas values of “a square meal, good, motherly advice, and some tough love” to a Kardashian kulture.The dialogue in Limelight is laugh-aloud funny, ranging from arch to the equivalent of slapstick. “We need you to ensure that for the next eight or nine months,” the Broadway producers explain to Allison, “our very expensive star is a goody-two-shoe, wholesome, mindful, meditating, kelp-eating, oxygen-breathing, nonsmoking, celibate monk.”Told through Allison’s winsome first-person account, Limelight tells a story of relationships and comfort zones. Allison feels for Carter, seeing past the attitude to an isolated teenager whose worst tendencies are enabled by leeches. She offers kindness and reliability, enabling Carter’s courage to scale new heights because now there’s scaffolding and a softer place to land if he falls.Originally published in Lone Star Literary Life.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My Review of “Limelight” by Amy Poeppel“Limelight” by Amy Poeppel is such an enjoyable, amusing, delightful and entertaining novel!! I had such fun reading this and had difficulty putting the book down. The genres for this Novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction.Can you imagine uprooting your family from Dallas Texas to New York City? If that isn’t a shock, how about accidentally bumping your car into a BMW that you find out belongs to a young celebrity?I love the way Amy Poeppel describes her colorful cast of characters. I found that the characters, even while doing inappropriate things are likable. Allison Brinkley and her family move to New York City. Her husband has a terrific job opportunity, and Allison has a wonderful teaching job, for the moment. Allison’s daughter is a senior in high school, and her other two children have adjustments to make as well. Allison loses her teaching job, when the person she is replacing wants her job back. Allison finds another position to tutor, for the moment. That doesn’t work out either. Oh, don’t worry about Allison.It seems that the young celebrity demands that Allison come to his apartment after he finds the note she left when she hit his car. The Celebrity reminds me little of Justin Bieber. Carter Reid, the celebrity is supposed to be in a Broadway show. Notice I mention supposed to be. Somehow, Allison finds herself in charge of a stubborn, unpredictable juvenile celebrity. How is Allison going to get Carter Reid to act like a professional?Allison is going to Broadway, and her family may never be the same again. I highly recommend this charming, delicious and witty novel for those readers who appreciate Women’ s Fiction. I received an ARC for my honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    5 starsLimelight is a joy to read from start to finish. Poeppel’s writing is smart and fresh, and as a supreme fan of all things Broadway related, I love the subject matter. Allison Brinkley is grappling with moving from Dallas to New York City with a husband and three children and struggling to find her place in her family and the world at large. She stumbles into a new job serving as the personal assistant for a spoiled young pop star who is cast in a Broadway musical.My favorite parts of the book relate to the production of the musical Limelight (Limelight is both the title of the book and the title of the musical Carter stars in). Poeppel follows the show from the first rehearsal read of the script through the various events that are required to open a Broadway show. Her inclusion of the various characters that contribute to the show such as the director, the producers, and the fellow actors starring with Carter, Kevin Kline and Melissa McCarthy, adds authenticity and depth to the story. I also loved the song lyrics Poeppel uses at the beginning of each section; each choice is relevant to that portion of the book, and several provide a glimpse into the world in which Carter exists and induce empathy in the reader for Carter and his situation. While I was reading the book, I wondered how it would end and hoped it would be realistic. Thankfully, Limelight’s conclusion is perfect; Poeppel writes an ending to her story that is both highly satisfying and completely believable. I highly recommend Limelight; it is an absolutely delightful tale. I received this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.