Did You Hear about Kitty Karr?: A Novel

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In the process, Elise discovers something about Kitty that she didn't know and finds herself as well. It is among the commonplaces of education that we often first cut off the living root and then try to replace its . Sometimes the emotional restraint it took to conceal her unhappiness was just a hair away from masochism. Some came right out and asked it, and social media was a cauldron of racist epithets; it was Meghan Markle hysteria times three.

In Paul’s appealing if overlong debut, a Black Hollywood family reckons with a surprising and complicated past.Tom’s mouth moved as if he was about to say caliente, but instead, he merely extended his hands to open dialogue. Although this was a slow read for me, there are countless reasons this book was a pleasurable Delight to read. When white silver screen actress Kitty Karr Tate dies and unexpectedly leaves her multimillion-dollar estate to the Black St.

This is an incredibly thought-provoking debut - it made me feel very conflicted between all the characters and interested in learning more about the issues in the book.The premise is that actress Kitty Karr (Tate) passes away and wills her fortuned estate to the Black St. However, the modern portions of the novel, which follow Elise in the wake of Kitty’s death, were a significant drop in quality. John is one of three sisters who have been rich and famous since birth because of their parents’ talents.

That said, the book does address several important issues: racism, colorism within the Black community, and sexism within the Hollywood machine. The "Present": This book is set in 2017, which is mostly due to the racial undertones of the book and that time in the US and has dual timelines between the past and "present" (2017) until we come upon the current conflict.

Now she's been nominated for an Oscar that could expand her successful acting career, but she's not sure if that's what she wants. Crystal Smith Paul attended Spelman College and UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television and received her master’s in journalism from NYU.

What it tells me is that you either 1) do not have Black friends, or 2) you DO have Black friends but they don’t tell you anything of substance because they see you for what you are. What’s interesting is a character says to Elise in the present that he doesn’t believe that—there’s always a choice to be made. Elise is preoccupied with managing her image and avoiding the paparazzi, until the death of neighbor Kitty Karr, Elise’s beloved mentor, who leaves a fortune to Elise and her two sisters.Kitty had written out twenty-five invitations to her own memorial service for her lawyer to mail after her death. The decisions that Kitty and her mom had to make, the historical aspects of this book, were thought provoking and heart breaking. Crystal Smith Paul also unveils the power family secrets have to complicate and destroy future generations. Plus Elise's epiphany and desire to good by the end of this felt superficial at best and egotistical at worse with her exposition dump of newly acquired social justice knowledge felt rushed and forced. Even so, I still think it is a fascinating story and would be a good selection for a book club or buddy read because of the potential discussions.