Arthur Norman

Hollywood: Hollyweird Part 2:
Last Ditch Effort!
By Art Norman, Jr.
2019
Reviewed by Angie Mangino
Rating: 2 stars

Continuing the story in Part Two, the author tells of the weirdness of Hollywood with the book title taken from the name of a documentary he was involved with from 2005 until 2009. The writing style continues in short conversational chapters, but readers of this book who have not read the original book most likely will be confused at the beginning.

“They were holding him back. He was saying, ‘Just let me go please! Let me go! All I want is my gun.’

They were all dressed for Christmas. Nice and warm inside the Mansion. The black guy was on ends, tripping so hard it was frightening to visualize. All he wanted was to have a white wife – blue eyed, blond white girl – and he chose to suggest to go home to her family. But now, the Dad was all over it and they had to call the police because there was only two. Just enough to hold him back, but the liquor was kicking in.

All that protein – monstrous – they had to call ‘em the police ‘fore all heck broke loose. Then, as if on cue, I wake up in Hollywood feeling all weirded out in Last Ditch Effort Part 2. Nice to meet you.”

This reviewer believes a continuation of a story can work well, but only if each book is a stand-alone story of itself with subtle references to the prior work providing readers with enough information to understand it from the very beginning.

The first book ended on 10-24-15. After the two short beginning chapters, this book shows a beginning on 3-25-16 reaching its conclusion with

“It’s 7pm now on 7-18-18. We’ll stop in to a nice sized city, Greenville, NC, to do some shopping tomorrow as we venture on back to Beulaville! Peace. I’m out!”

This ending is followed by a brief introduction to Hollywood: Hollyweird Part 3, a mystery novel.

The author has a wealth of material from his life in Hollywood and away from Hollywood. For the first book this reviewer believed that if readers took the time to put together all the colloquial snippets, they would get a clearer picture of this memoir of his experience. This second part would have made more sense if included in that first book for a complete memoir, combining the two narrations eliminating the unnecessary with a clearer structured story arc. Then, rather than a part three, if that story is to take the mystery format rather than a memoir, this reviewer believes it would be a stronger book on its own in that genre.

Angie Mangino currently works as a freelance journalist, author, and book reviewer, additionally offering authors personalized critique service and copyediting of unpublished manuscripts. www.AngieMangino.com… (mehr)