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A review by ihateprozac
Scream All Night by Derek Milman
5.0
I'm surprised by how much I loved this! It's equal parts darkly hilarious and very, very sad. Scream All Night has all of the campyness of a B-horror movie but with the trauma and discomfort of a hard-hitting contemporary. Not two things that I'd ever pair together, but this just works!
I'm not hugely into stories set in the entertainment industry, but this setting is very similar to Marisha Pessl's [b:Night Film|18770398|Night Film|Marisha Pessl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397425352l/18770398._SY75_.jpg|15182838], which is one of my fave books ever. In reading Scream All Night it's apparent that Derek Milman works in the industry, because there's soooo much detail about how film sets operate, how film distribution works, and the mass of logistics involved in even lighting one single scene. It lends so much authenticity to the story but never gets bogged down in too much detail.
Mental illness and child abuse are hugely prevalent themes here, so beware going in. Dario had a traumatic childhood that led to him getting legally emancipated, so returning home for his father's funeral is the beginning of a loooooong and painful journey of healing. This book does a great job at teaching forgiveness and healing, but also giving Dario agency to put up boundaries and remove himself from situations that are actively harming him . Dario's not just out here casually forgiving a man who tried to down him for the sake of a "good take", he's slowly healing but also realising that he'll never get closure on certain things.
If you liked Katie Henry's [b:Let's Call It a Doomsday|40942619|Let's Call It a Doomsday|Katie Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539263216l/40942619._SY75_.jpg|63844915] or [b:Heretics Anonymous|34659293|Heretics Anonymous|Katie Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507339506l/34659293._SY75_.jpg|55823822], give Scream All Night a shot! It has a similar black humour to it, and does an equally great job at balancing family drama with sarcasm and wit.
5 stars. This was such a quirky little book.
I'm not hugely into stories set in the entertainment industry, but this setting is very similar to Marisha Pessl's [b:Night Film|18770398|Night Film|Marisha Pessl|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397425352l/18770398._SY75_.jpg|15182838], which is one of my fave books ever. In reading Scream All Night it's apparent that Derek Milman works in the industry, because there's soooo much detail about how film sets operate, how film distribution works, and the mass of logistics involved in even lighting one single scene. It lends so much authenticity to the story but never gets bogged down in too much detail.
Mental illness and child abuse are hugely prevalent themes here, so beware going in. Dario had a traumatic childhood that led to him getting legally emancipated, so returning home for his father's funeral is the beginning of a loooooong and painful journey of healing. This book does a great job at teaching forgiveness and healing, but also giving Dario agency to put up boundaries and remove himself from situations that are actively harming him . Dario's not just out here casually forgiving a man who tried to down him for the sake of a "good take", he's slowly healing but also realising that he'll never get closure on certain things.
If you liked Katie Henry's [b:Let's Call It a Doomsday|40942619|Let's Call It a Doomsday|Katie Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1539263216l/40942619._SY75_.jpg|63844915] or [b:Heretics Anonymous|34659293|Heretics Anonymous|Katie Henry|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507339506l/34659293._SY75_.jpg|55823822], give Scream All Night a shot! It has a similar black humour to it, and does an equally great job at balancing family drama with sarcasm and wit.
5 stars. This was such a quirky little book.