The Other Beautiful People by Caroline Bock is poignant look at the people behind the movies, cable television, and more, and like the movies they purvey, their stories are complex and deeply emotional. Amy Greene is our protagonist, and her multi-layered past is never far from her present.
As the head of marketing at Cinema Channel, her days are filled with meetings, press junkets, calls from reporters, and office politics at the cable network. Her husband, Jack, survived 9/11 in Manhattan by being late to an interview, and this one critical time in history has reshaped the trajectory of their lives.
“At first, I said, “It’s terrible, but think of King Kong—planes fly into buildings.”
This wasn’t a movie.
Outside my office window, the city erupted. Police and firetruck wails scraped from every direction. A blaze of sirens. Walls vibrated. Vertigo—looking at the television in my office.” (pg. 7)
Bock has very astutely captured the impacts of 9/11 on Amy, her husband, and others. This pivotal moment like others in this novel set the stage for a shift in Amy’s life, and its a shift that would only happen with a push.
What’s to love about this book is that it reads like a movie. It’s cinematic. It’s cut scenes and retakes in fragments. It’s beautifully woven together, with its cast of characters.
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A mother, Amy, who wants to run her life almost as efficiently as she does her office.
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A father, Jack, whose brush with death has altered his perspective almost entirely.
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Their son, Adam, seems to have everything else in perspective, especially when it comes to love — he just wishes his parents would be less focused on the external.
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And we cannot forget Amy’s long-time boss and friend, Owen, who has his own foibles and inability to move on from the past.
The move from New York City to outside Washington, D.C., has Amy out of sorts, and it is clear that something has shifted. Amy is beginning to see herself on the outside, but she still hasn’t examined why that might be.
“I am outside the scene. I am the observer; for a moment no one notices me.” (pg. 55)
“My presence is beside the point. I am with them, but I am not, and I am in love with each of them: Jack, Mattie, Sam—and most of all, Adam.” (pg. 55)
There’s a haunting quality to this novel. There are dark shadows looming in this black-and-white film. A woman’s past that can only be dealt with when confronted, and a present that needs to be lived in, not observed. Amy needs to stop playing a part and step fully into her own life.
The Other Beautiful People by Caroline Bock is at its heart about the family and the fragmentation that can occur when people become too focused on their job and the parts they play in other people’s lives. These beautiful people need to find their way back to what matters and become the main heroes of their own lives.
RATING: Cinquain
