The glamorous art world of Manhattan is a natural subject for novelists and film-makers, but with the honourable exception of William Boyd’s Stars and Bars, written before the great art boom of recent times got going, few of the novels or movies have quite got it right.
The glamorous art world of Manhattan is a natural subject for novelists and film-makers, but with the honourable exception of William Boyd’s Stars and Bars, written before the great art boom of recent times got going, few of the novels or movies have quite got it right. But now comes a novel by Steve Martin, An Object of Beauty, which does seem to have the ring of truth about it.
Best known as a Hollywood actor with a sense of humour as dry as a good martini and an appearance that might not look out of place in business or politics, Martin has a quick and lively brain and over the years has written several excellent screenplays — LA Story and Roxanne being the best known — plus two novels, a play and some non-fiction.
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