elinacre's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. i can't exactly put a finger on what i *didn't* love about this novel...maybe there just wasn't a big ENOUGH conflict? tons of smaller issues and obstacles, and heartbreaks and successes. but, love the quirky secondary characters, the back and forth between candy and her grandma, and wish i could watch candy onstage for real! kind of reminded me of fannie flagg's books, in that you seem to get to know an entire community, not just a main character or two.
lornarei's review against another edition
3.0
This was kind of the equivalent of a general fiction "cozy mystery". No huge dramas or crises, other than the tragedies she had suffered earlier in life that made her who she was. An enjoyable tale of a girl who had a less than happy start and turned it into a successful, happy future. (My Pop Sugar 2015 Challenge "Book from an author you love that you haven't read yet")
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Jane and Connie, a favorite of 2014.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbest%20to%20laugh%20landvik__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sbest%20to%20laugh%20landvik__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
ssloeffler's review against another edition
3.0
Much better than the last one. Fun insider view of Hollywood in the 70s and the stand up comedy world.
bookrec's review against another edition
5.0
She is one of my favorite writers and this book doesn't disappoint. She moves out of Minnesota to warmer climes in LA. Set in the late 70's, the characters are from old-time Hollywood and those trying to make it now. A wonderful book where you love all the characters.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
I've read and enjoyed several of Lorna Landvik's novels so couldn't resist sampling this offering. Partly based on Landvik's own early years in Hollywood, Best To Laugh is a funny yet poignant coming of age story set in the 1970's.
Candy Pekkala is a half Korean, half Nordic, American born twenty two year old who trades Minnesota for California with a half formed idea of becoming a comedienne. She sublets an apartment from her cousin in the once famous Peyton Hall, right in the heart of Hollywood, bordered by Sunset, Santa Monica and Hollywood Boulevards and takes up a series of temp jobs while she tentatively hones her act in local comedy venues.
Candy's quirky neighbours play a large role in the novel. There is the body building daughter of a television star, a retired animator, a Romanian fortune teller, a substitute teacher who supplements his earnings with game show wins, an elderly man who once owned the most popular nightclub in town, his son, a punk rock singer, and an assortment of actors, actresses and executives waiting for their big break. Orphaned at a fairly young age and raised largely by her grandmother, Candy creates an extended family among the residents of Peyton Hall who give her the confidence and support she needs to pursue her dreams.
There isn't a lot of story to Best to Laugh but it is an engaging read with plenty of humour and a touch of wistfulness. Landvik acknowledges that the novel is a homage to the people and places that launched her career and as such it has a rosy glow of warmth and nostalgia. I enjoyed it.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
3.0
A young woman sublets her cousin's Hollywood apartment in 1978, meeting interesting people in her building, and working on making it is a stand up comic. Funny and warm. A little bit like Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series, but maybe not so tawdry.
rdebner's review against another edition
4.0
Ms. Landvik has changed publishers, but has not changed the awesomeness of her writing one iota. As a fellow Minnesotan, I always love to see any of the Minnesota elements/roots in her novels, but beyond that, I love her novels because they are funny and true. This one is set in Los Angeles in the late 70s and early 80s; the main character is a young Korean/Scandinavian woman who takes her cousin up on the offer of a sublet, in an old-style Hollywood apartment complex of fourplexes around a pool. As Candy tries to figure out what's next, she makes a community among her fellow complex denizens, other stand-up comics, and those she befriends at her temp jobs at a record company and a fictional Playboy Mansion.
nutti72's review against another edition
3.0
Fun book by one of my favorite authors, but it wasn't among my favorite books by her.
ryannmarchetti's review against another edition
5.0
This book reads like a memoir. Candy feels real. She starts doing stand-up in the 70's after moving to LA to escape being stuck in her grief. Even though she starts it because she kind of fell into it, she immediately falls in love with, sets goals, works hard, and succeeds.
It made me so happy to read this. I devoured this book. It was so juicy for me to read about her knocking on her neighbors door and asking for sugar, sitting by the pool and just broaching a conversation with someone and finding a friend group from those things. I love Candy. I long to travel back to the 70's and be her.
Maybe I enjoyed this book because it's what I want out of my life or maybe I enjoyed it because it was written in a really raw, amazing, genuine way. But I think you might like it too.
It made me so happy to read this. I devoured this book. It was so juicy for me to read about her knocking on her neighbors door and asking for sugar, sitting by the pool and just broaching a conversation with someone and finding a friend group from those things. I love Candy. I long to travel back to the 70's and be her.
Maybe I enjoyed this book because it's what I want out of my life or maybe I enjoyed it because it was written in a really raw, amazing, genuine way. But I think you might like it too.