CHOKING ON MARLON BRANDO in PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“It is a very, very straightforward concept indeed that life is not like a movie, but one I have amazing difficulty in grasping,” writes Quirke, a well-known UK movie critic, in this chronicle of her tumultuous love life with men on-screen and in-person. Clever and forthright, Quirke’s debut is a charmer; she knows herself well, and actors even better, regularly capturing the allure of any given leading man in a single phrase: George Clooney is a Cary Grant type who “has played and will play a man of the same age for three decades. That age being: no age at all. The Prime”; in Klaus Kinski, Quirke sees “handsomeness gone insane…as though every feature on his face is trying to out-handsome the others.” Just as precise and memorable when writing about real-life lovers (“That is what he wanted above all. The look on my face. That is all you’re allowed to give some men”), Quirke’s nimble story-telling is enough to forgive a less-than-dynamic tale—Quirke loves man, man loves Quirke, things go bad, repeat—but her reluctance to take action may frustrate an audience expecting personal growth or obstacles overcome; nevertheless, fans of snappy writing, movie actors and dead-end romance will find Quirke’s book a treat. (July)