A Girl, a Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills [NOOK Book]

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Overview

When Holly's mother dies unexpectedly, she thinks things can't get much worse. But then her dad starts dating again. And his new girlfriend is Holly's aunt--her mom's sister! Aunt Claudia is known in Hollywood as the Queen of B Movies. Horror films, zombie flicks, she's made them all. Holly never liked her aunt, but now she positively can't stand her. Especially once the ghost of her mother appears and tells Holly that Claudia was to blame for her death.

Inspired by Hamlet, this funny novel about the danger of family secrets is a modern comic take on a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

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More About This Book

Overview

When Holly's mother dies unexpectedly, she thinks things can't get much worse. But then her dad starts dating again. And his new girlfriend is Holly's aunt--her mom's sister! Aunt Claudia is known in Hollywood as the Queen of B Movies. Horror films, zombie flicks, she's made them all. Holly never liked her aunt, but now she positively can't stand her. Especially once the ghost of her mother appears and tells Holly that Claudia was to blame for her death.

Inspired by Hamlet, this funny novel about the danger of family secrets is a modern comic take on a classic Shakespearean tragedy.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly
Something is rotten in the state of California. In this update of Shakespeare's Hamlet, when Holly returns home to Los Angeles on Christmas break from her East Coast prep school, she has to face the reality that her father is dating her mother's tacky sister, Claudia, only months after her mother's unexpected death. Holly is horrified at her father and naturally thinks badly of Claudia, but after a visit from her mother's ghost, she suspects that Claudia may have murdered her sister so she could move in on Holly's father and her mother's production company. Given Hollywood's noirish history, the setting is a natural for this reimagining, as Zindel (The Secret Rites of Social Butterflies) mixes pop culture references and talk of Hollywood movers and shakers into the paranormally inflected mystery. Zindel's twist ending is affecting and entirely her own, but some choices (Holly bemoaning her inability to avenge her mother's death while in a bathroom stall; the drag performances in the video Holly uses to suggest Claudia's guilt) seem played for laughs and lessen its emotional impact. Ages 12–up. (Oct.)
Children's Literature
Holly has come home to LA for Christmas break from her east coast boarding school for the first time since her mother's funeral just a few months earlier. Her BFF and new boyfriend do what they can to help her cope with the loss but seventeen-year-old Holly just can't seem to move on. With the help of an ancient Santeria ritual performed by her Puerto Rican housekeeper, Holly is sure she sees her mother's ghost. And when the ghost speaks, she tells Holly she was murdered by her own sister, Holly's aunt Claudia who also just happens to be her dad's new girlfriend. Holly sets out to find proof of the murder and avenge her mother's death, eventually creating a short movie reenacting the crime which she plays at her aunt's dinner party. In true Hamlet fashion, things are brought out in the open and the truth is finally revealed. Unlike the Danish prince's play however, there are no additional deaths and no real emotional climax. Instead, with the help of a psychiatrist, Holly comes to understand the truth about her mother's bipolar disorder, her parent's rocky relationship and her own deluded visions. Slowly she begins to forgive and learns to trust in love again. The tone jumps from light to dark sporadically with stereotyped LA references and psychiatric language woven throughout the text. The premise is promising but everything falls just a little flat, leaving the reader wishing for a touch more of the Bard. Reviewer: Amy McMillan
More Reviews (3) Fewer Reviews
VOYA
Holly is coming home to the Hollywood Hills for Christmas. She has not returned from her East Coast boarding school since summer, shortly after her mother died. She avoided coming home at Thanksgiving because her father told her he was dating her aunt Claudia. Holly is devastated and furious that her father is dating at all, much less dating the sister that her mother never got along with. When Holly gets home, she finds that Claudia has taken over her mother's movie production company and is infiltrating the house, filling it with props and posters from her cheesy horror films. The only good thing about the whole mess is Oliver, the adorable son of Claudia's assistant. But even he cannot compete for Holly's attention once the ghost of her mother shows up, telling Holly that she was murdered by Claudia. Holly sets out to prove her aunt's treachery to her father and everyone else before Claudia manages to become her stepmother. This is a charming tale, a Hamlet-inspired ghost story with a Hollywood backdrop and a few interesting twists. Holly seeks advice from the family housekeeper, Anna Maria, who practices Santeria. The story is filled with landmarks, including a disaster on Rodeo Drive and romance at the La Brea Tar Pits. Holly is bright and funny, and her story is touching without being maudlin. This is a great tale for teen readers looking for a light, fun read about family and forgiveness. Reviewer: Heather Pittman
School Library Journal
Gr 8 Up—Holly comes home from boarding school knowing that her dad is now dating her aunt. Her deceased mom, who had inherited Goldmeyer Productions from her father, didn't get along with her sister, and Holly dislikes and distrusts the woman. When her mother's ghost appears, telling Holly that she was murdered by Aunt Claudia, the teen becomes consumed with planning her revenge. In the midst of all of this, Holly meets and falls for Ollie, a cute marine biology student at UCLA, and has a lot of escapades with her best friend, Felicia. This Hamlet-like story will appeal to avid and reluctant readers alike. With a Hollywood setting complete with shopping on Rodeo Drive, posh parties, and Porsches, the book reads like an episode of 90210. Holly is a strong character faced with tough decisions on how to handle this new family dynamic and a strange stepmom-to-be, along with juggling a newfound relationship with a guy she's crazy about. While the arrival of Holly's cousins is a bit silly and contrived, it is the catalyst for the re-enactment movie that brings everything to a head. Overall, this is a fun read that will appeal to fans of ghost stories as well as those who love a good problem or romance novel.—Gina Bowling, South Gibson County High School, Medina, TN
Kirkus Reviews

For her third outing, Zindel (Girl of the Moment, 2007, andThe Secret Rites of Social Butterflies, 2008) takes a stab at updating Hamlet, transforming the melancholy Dane into a California girl mourning her mother's suicide--or was it? At boarding school back East, Holly has been ignoring her father's e-mails for months, attempting to block out the reality of his newfound romance with--ew!--Holly's late mother's sister, Claudia. Stuck at home for two weeks on Christmas break, fueled by grief and visitations from her mother's ghost, Holly's loathing and resentment of Claudia blossom into suspicion that her aunt poisoned her mother, so she sets out to prove it, with disastrous but ultimately life-affirming results.A novel about a teenager struggling to adapt to her radically changing family dynamic in the months following her mother's suicide is a very worthy type of book. That novel, however, saddled with the author's determination to shoehorn in thinly drawn stand-ins forPolonius, Ophelia andLaertes, as well as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and an iMovie version of the Claudius-poisons-King-Hamlet play (starring rowdy Australians), is a hot mess. (Fiction. YA)

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781101444306
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 10/14/2010
  • Sold by: Penguin Group
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 1
  • Sales rank: 967,279
  • Age range: 12 - 17 Years
  • File size: 288 KB

Meet the Author

Lizabeth Zindel spent five years working in the film industry in Los Angeles, so she knows her topic intimately. Most recently, Ms. Zindel worked at Maverick Entertainment. She now lives in New York City.

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