A charming and laugh-out-loud novel by Lauren Graham, beloved star of Parenthood and Gilmore Girls, about an aspiring actress trying to make it in mid-nineties New York City.Franny Banks is a struggling actress in New York City, with just six months left of the three year deadline she gave herself to succeed. But so far, all she has to show for her efforts is a single line in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters and a degrading waitressing job. She lives in Brooklyn with two roommates-Jane, her best friend from college, and Dan, a sci-fi writer, who is very definitely not boyfriend material-and is struggling with her feelings for a suspiciously charming guy in her acting class, all while trying to find a hair-product cocktail that actually works. Meanwhile, she dreams of doing "important" work, but only ever seems to get auditions for dishwashing liquid and peanut butter commercials. It's hard to tell if she'll run out of time or money first, but either way, failure would mean facing the fact that she has absolutely no skills to make it in the real world. Her father wants her to come home and teach, her agent won't call her back, and her classmate Penelope, who seems supportive, might just turn out to be her toughest competition yet. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a funny and charming debut about finding yourself, finding love, and, most difficult of all, finding an acting job.
I love the premise of the book (struggling actress! peanut butter commercials! charming guy in acting class! room-mates!) and I adore Lauren Graham (of Gilmore Girls fame). This book called out to me as a comfort read: cute and smiley and fun with a bit of angst thrown in.
This book was (as the blurb promises) CHARMING. Franny is delightfully charming, slightly quirky and kind of all over the place. She has the best of intentions and clings to her dreams... yet is constantly floundering - she's in danger of losing her waitressing job, her auditions never quite go as planned, others around her seems to be getting all the breaks.
Despite, at times, loving the narration, I felt Franny's asides started to weigh the story down and some scenes took a while to get through. At 30% in I felt like the book was only just getting started and I was kind of on the edge of my seat waiting for the plot to take off, but just as it did, the book ended.
It's a catch 22 for me: I love how Graham narrates, but the narration really bogged down the plot. Which meant even as I adored certain whimsical and charming scenes, the story as whole did not enchant me as I had hoped it would. I guess I love Graham's writing and the charm of it all, but wanted more from the story. More swoon, more stakes, more action.
Still. It was a lovely way to spend my afternoon. A breezy kind of chick lit read which I couldn't help but cast Lauren Graham herself as Franny. If you are a fan of chick lit and/or Lauren Graham you should definitely check this out for a relaxing and smiley Sunday afternoon read.
many thanks to Random House & netgalley for my review copy
