Intimate and sweeping, heartfelt and satirical, one of the funniest and most moving novels I’ve read in a long time.” —Jess Walter How does the novel treat its bit players? What do you think Marra was trying to say about whose stories matter? Is there a minor character that really appealed to you?

Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel | Washington Independent Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel | Washington Independent

Listen, how about I come with you to Washington,” she suggested. “We’ll prepare your opening statement on the flight in.” That’s the second time this year. Christ, when will it end?” “Life’s nasty and brutish but at least it’s short.”With Mercury Pictures under financial pressures, Artie has been summoned to face the Senate investigation, accompanied by the ever reliable Maria. Maria is in love with a Chinese American actor, Eddie Lu, condemned to playing stereotypes that bring him real life dangers. A glimpse of Germany in the inter-war years is provided by the miniaturist Anna Weber, devastated by the loss of her son, Kurt, when her Nazi husband is given custody. In San Lorenzo, portrait photographer, Nino Picone, escapes, arriving in LA with a stolen identity. With Pearl Harbour and the American entry into WW2, the fortunes of Mercury Pictures change dramatically as they make morale boosting war propaganda, but the emigres are designated enemy aliens, made to feel unworthy and unwanted. Anna heads to Utah, with her miniaturist talents being utilised by the American military. The characters lives intersect and connect as we learn of their pasts, present and sometimes their future.

Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel: Marra, Anthony Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel: Marra, Anthony

Or so Maria imagined Artie telling himself. In truth, she’d begun to worry about him. In four days, he would sit at a witness table on Capitol Hill, where he would testify alongside the heads of Warner Bros, MGM, Twentieth Century–Fox, and Paramount. It was shaping into a pivotal confrontation between campaigners for free speech and crusaders for government censorship. But as far as Maria could tell, Artie was more preoccupied with his toupee than his opening statement. We have 4 read-alikes for Mercury Pictures Presents, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member. In response to pro-interventionist messages in recent movies, a group of isolationist senators accused Hollywood of plotting with Roosevelt “to make America punch drunk with propaganda to push her into war” against Germany and Italy. Congressional hearings were hastily arranged to investigate these charges and propose legislative remedies. And Artie Feldman, ever reliant on the free publicity of controversy to find an audience, wanted to both undermine the legitimacy of the investigation and capitalize on his newfound notoriety with Mercury’s next movie. How does the novel treat its bit players? What do you think Marra was trying to say about whose stories matter? How did he illustrate this point? So much old-time snappy wit that Mercury Pictures Presents should come with popcorn and a 78-ounce Coke.” —Ron Charles, TheWashington Post

Not only is Mercury Pictures Presents a fabulous story, it’s Anthony Marra’s intriguing style of writing and his unlikely descriptions that makes the novel so entertaining and thought provoking. New York Times reviewer Matthew Specter provides this example from the book: A rusted-out rowboat decaying on a bank is presented as “a visual index of local fungi and a nursery for deciduous saplings.” Both clever and artful, Marra’s writing aptly reflects the characters of the story. Wanting to change the subject before she could offer words of sympathy, Artie said, “It’s a real pity Devil’s Bargain didn’t receive Production Code approval. Can’t you just picture me touting it in my congressional testimony?” As our country spirals into more and more discord over who did what on Jan. 6, 2021, and whether women should have reproductive rights, it seems right and proper for a novel concerning World War II-era Italian fascism to highlight how easy it is for all of us to fall prey to false romantic narratives. All the better if the author is Anthony Marra, and the book “Mercury Pictures Presents” does so through the perspective of a poorly run Hollywood film studio.

Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony Dark days in Hollywood: Mercury Pictures Presents, by Anthony

All told, there are about twenty characters in the novel, each one connected in some way. An interesting figure is Anna Weber, who has emigrated from Berlin, Germany and is the studio's miniaturist. Anna purposely left Germany before the war started, due to its politics. A dark inkling deepens to certainty. This parched patch of Utah is indeed the farthest outpost of the Third Reich, alike in the immodesty of its vision and narrowness of its humanity.I recommend this book to everyone. Have patience with the changes of points of view. It will all make sense in the end. People traveling through… All these elements were present in his latest book about the film industry during WW2. The story highlights the absurdity of war through a constellation of connected characters. Both Maria and her mother keep their emotions inside. How does this help them survive? How does it hurt them? Maria could. Inevitably, the most creative aspect of any Mercury production was the publicity campaign promoting it.