Did You Hear about Kitty Karr?: A Novel

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Historical fiction isn't my go-to but I found this novel about Black women passing in Hollywood riveting. A year ago, the sisters had all promised to come home to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their parents’ legendary Halloween costume party. Her mother was pacing, hidden deep in the labyrinth, but every so often Elise could hear her feet kicking up gravel. Their parents, working through a battle in their marriage, took up residence in Paris by that December, granting Elise family separation and consequent career growth. This debut novel is about fictional actress Kitty Karr and her rise to fame and her beneficiaries who will uncover Kitty’s secrets.

You are already millionaires, who just inherited more millions and they were unhappy, ungrateful and overall seemed miserable in their lives. Really, it was closer to a billion; the reports got it wrong because the leaked documents only listed Kitty’s personal assets. Sometimes the emotional restraint it took to conceal her unhappiness was just a hair away from masochism.

I really liked Kitty as a character and felt for the difficult decisions she had to make due to industry and societal standards. A multigenerational saga that traverses the glamour of old Hollywood and the seductive draw of modern-day showbiz. She’d been awake almost twenty-four hours, and Elise could see the rhythm of her mania, although to her sisters it probably looked like excitement. When the late White movie star, Kitty Karr Tate, leaves her multimillion dollar fortune and estate to the St.

Sometimes in books with multiple timelines, I enjoy one more than the other and that was the case here — I strongly preferred the 1950s storyline, which I found more interesting between the two. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets The Vanishing Half in this debut novel about the life of a Hollywood starlet and the mystery she leaves behind for the three St. My only real issue with this book was the early flashbacks of Kitty’s childhood story were a bit slow, but beyond that everything was great. An ambitious novel, illuminating the complexities of racial identity, particularly what it means to be Black in Hollywood no matter the era.John—three black sisters who have been famous since birth thanks to the accomplishments of their actress mother and musician father—the inheritance opens up a barrage of questions from the press and public. In the process, Elise discovers something about Kitty that she didn't know and finds herself as well. No one can figure out why an aging white actress would bestow her immense inheritance on three Black girls, but Kitty has left Elise in charge of settling her estate. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. What could have worked better: The books portrait of colorism, racism, and life lived in segregated America was compelling.

Kitty Karr is an iconoclastic, complicated, and fascinating woman whose legacy is as relevant as ever today.John sisters are hard to relate to, and having them already millionaires who weren't truly affected by Kitty's gift made me want to care less about them. I finished this hoping for an author's note because this raises so many questions, but perhaps they're meant not to be answered. As Elise digs deeper into Kitty's past, she must also turn the lens upon herself, confronting the gifts and burdens of her own choices and the power that the secrets of the dead hold over the living. It is truly a shame, because if the quality of the modern portion had been the same as the historical ones, it could have been a stellar book, rather than just a good one.

John, one of three sisters who have been rich and famous since birth because of their parents' talents. Crystal Smith Paul attended Spelman College and UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television and received her master's in journalism from NYU. Elise is the family’s latest star of the silver screen and up for an Academy Award for Best Actress. In the 1930s and 40s, Hazel is a black single mother raising a white-passing child in segregated North Carolina. Overall these chapters just dragged as again we're introduced to more unhappy, unmemorable characters.Elise and Aaron owned a modest (aka four-bedroom) house behind a sliding gate in West Hollywood and had been engaged for a year. The book does deliver on an interesting twist of who Kitty Karr was and why she left her inheritance to the St. by Crystal Smith Paul is an engaging and moving read about the impact of racism on an American family. From segregation, to passing, to the Black lives matter movement, the author really shined in the thematic elements of the novel. There’s a lot here to learn, ponder, and discuss for book clubs, so in that respect, kudos to Reese for her selection.