I'll Take You There

by Wally Lamb

Overview

In this radiant homage to the resiliency, strength, and power of women, Wally Lamb—author of numerous New York Times bestselling novels including She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much is True, and We Are Water—weaves an evocative, deeply affecting tapestry of one Baby Boomer's life and the trio of unforgettable women who have changed it.

 

I’ll Take You There centers on Felix, a film scholar who runs a Monday night movie club in what was once a vaudeville theater. One evening, while setting up a film in the projectionist booth, he’s confronted by the ghost of Lois Weber, a trailblazing motion picture director from Hollywood’s silent film era. Lois invites Felix to revisit—and in some cases relive—scenes from his past as they are projected onto the cinema’s big screen.

 

In these magical movies, the medium of film becomes the lens for Felix to reflect on the women who profoundly impacted his life. There’s his daughter Aliza, a Gen Y writer for New York Magazine who is trying to align her post-modern feminist beliefs with her lofty career ambitions; his sister, Frances, with whom he once shared a complicated bond of kindness and cruelty; and Verna, a fiery would-be contender for the 1951 Miss Rheingold competition, a beauty contest sponsored by a Brooklyn-based beer manufacturer that became a marketing phenomenon for two decades. At first unnerved by these ethereal apparitions, Felix comes to look forward to his encounters with Lois, who is later joined by the spirits of other celluloid muses.

 

Against the backdrop of a kaleidoscopic convergence of politics and pop culture, family secrets, and Hollywood iconography, Felix gains an enlightened understanding of the pressures and trials of the women closest to him, and of the feminine ideals and feminist realities that all women, of every era, must face.

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780594694076
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/22/2016
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Wally Lamb is the author of five New York Times bestselling novels: She’s Come Undone, I Know This Much Is True, The Hour I First Believed, Wishin’ and Hopin’, and We Are Water. His first two works of fiction, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, were both #1 New York Times bestsellers and selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Lamb edited Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, I’ll Fly Away, and You Don’t Know Me, three volumes of essays from students in his writing workshop at York Correctional Institution, a women’s prison in Connecticut, where he has been a volunteer facilitator for two decades. He lives in Connecticut and New York.

Hometown:

Willimantic, Connecticut

Date of Birth:

October 17, 1950

Place of Birth:

Norwich, Connecticut

Education:

B.A. in Education, University of Connecticut, 1972; M.A. in Education, 1977; M.F.A. in Writing, Vermont College, 1984

Editorial Reviews

A well-told story about a man whose dealings with women are as transformational as the women’s liberation movement itself.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Wally Lamb’s affection for these characters is so palpable, his intentions so palpably good, that it’s hard not to be touched by this sweet-natured novel.” — Washington Post

“Lamb is a writer with heart, passion and skill. I’LL TAKE YOU THERE deals with themes of feminism, eating disorders and family secrets, and winds up with a warmhearted finale.” — USA Today

“A warm, wise and witty story with a strong and appreciative theme of feminism at its big heart.” — New London Day

“Lamb’s previous work has been quite sensitive to women, painting endearing portraits of female characters who have been ignored, shamed and often mistreated. He builds on that tradition in I’ll Take You There, a love letter to feminism and to trailblazing women-real and imagined-who have graced the silver screen or stood behind the camera.” — BookPage

From the Publisher

Wally Lamb’s affection for these characters is so palpable, his intentions so palpably good, that it’s hard not to be touched by this sweet-natured novel.

Washington Post

A well-told story about a man whose dealings with women are as transformational as the women’s liberation movement itself.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Lamb’s previous work has been quite sensitive to women, painting endearing portraits of female characters who have been ignored, shamed and often mistreated. He builds on that tradition in I’ll Take You There, a love letter to feminism and to trailblazing women-real and imagined-who have graced the silver screen or stood behind the camera.

BookPage

A warm, wise and witty story with a strong and appreciative theme of feminism at its big heart.

New London Day

Lamb is a writer with heart, passion and skill. I’LL TAKE YOU THERE deals with themes of feminism, eating disorders and family secrets, and winds up with a warmhearted finale.

USA Today

Wally Lamb’s affection for these characters is so palpable, his intentions so palpably good, that it’s hard not to be touched by this sweet-natured novel.

Washington Post

Lamb is a writer with heart, passion and skill. I’LL TAKE YOU THERE deals with themes of feminism, eating disorders and family secrets, and winds up with a warmhearted finale.

USA Today

This glowing fictional tribute to the evolution of American feminism is deftly aided by narrator George Guidall. A midlife crisis for film scholar Felix means it’s time to take a look at the turning points of his life. He’s guided by former trailblazing film director Lois Weber and a magical movie screen as he reviews the influential women in his past. Guidall’s talented portrayals of complicated and dramatic characters provide listeners with an entertaining guide to feminism in this fascinating fantasy. Guidall shines in his portrayals of a wide range of women as the seemingly random events of Felix’s life coalesce into a heartfelt observation of the struggles and triumphs of the women who mean so much to him. R.O. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2016 - AudioFile

2016-10-10
An aging film scholar is visited by elegant Hollywood ghosts bearing interactive home movies of his childhood.“Welcome to your life, Felix Funicello!” Film expert Funicello is one of the few people who would be able to place the “translucent females” who appear to him one night at the Garde, the old vaudeville theater in New London, Connecticut, where he holds his Monday night film club. They are the shades of underrated silent-movie director Lois Weber and the leading lady of one of her pictures, Billie Dove, and they have returned from the afterlife to enlighten Felix about his past. “Now as soon as you’ve grounded yourself in the scene,” Weber explains, “you will be a child again, inside your home on Herbert Hoover Avenue, directed by your 6-year-old brain.” Felix is sucked right into the action and starts narrating in 6-year-old. “My busquito bites are itching me like crazy!” In the course of this and subsequent screenings, Funicello family secrets involving anorexia, unwanted pregnancy, and other female troubles are revealed. In between movie nights, Felix talks on the phone with his daughter, Aliza, a writer for New York magazine. Through her, he gets his exposure to current slang and culture, from polyamory to post-feminism to the new unisex application of terms such as “balls-to-the-wall” and “grow a pair.” In return, he helps Aliza with the feature she’s been assigned on the old Miss Rheingold beauty contest, to which the family has a connection. This novel is the print version of a narrative designed to appear in an app, with multimedia components and effects. It's possible that the idiosyncrasies of Lamb’s (We Are Water, 2013, etc.) sixth novel will work better in that format. There’s a novel in here somewhere, buried under film trivia, corny commentary, a convoluted premise, and a 17-page article about the Miss Rheingold contest.

Kirkus Reviews