Abstract
Reviewed by: The Truth about My Success by Dyan Sheldon Amy Atkinson Sheldon, Dyan The Truth about My Success. Candlewick, 2015 [352p] ISBN 978-0-7636-7272-0 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 7-10 Paloma Rose is no angel; she just plays one on television. Off set, the spoiled sixteen-year-old star has been running with the wrong crowd, not to mention throwing tantrums that have alienated her her coworkers and escalated the tension between her and her mother/manager, Leone. Oona, on the other hand, works as a waitress, acts as a handyman for her rundown apartment complex when her depressed father can’t leave the couch, and earns the respect of her boss and neighbors for her kindness and hard work. When Leone and Jack, Paloma’s slick agent, meet at Oona’s café, Jack notices the physical similarities between the two girls; after Paloma gets arrested and only brat camp can help, Jack recruits the reluctant but impoverished Oona to fill Paloma’s acting shoes while Paloma is secretly rehabilitated, ensuring that Paloma’s show—Jack and Leone’s meal ticket—will continue. With acerbic wit and dry observations, Sheldon creates protagonists whose personalities and internal journeys feel as realistic as possible given the enjoyably farfetched premise. These well-drawn characters and variation on the ol’ switcheroo plotline emerge in crisp, salty prose that engages readers from the outset but provides enough insight and character development to elicit sympathy amidst the stings. The author’s pull-no-punches portrayal of Hollywood is evocative and intriguing, as is the camp for [End Page 112] troubled teens where Paloma unwittingly finds herself and where readers begin to see her humanity. Readers will appreciate the lack of condescension, both in tone and outcome, where even Paloma and Oona’s joining forces against the conniving adults feels neither saccharine nor gratuitously vindictive. Send this one with beach-bound teens for added SoCal feeling—they’ll appreciate it. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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