A sophisticated comedy about three people caught in the Hollywood machine. Following the death of his wife, Henry Cadwallader, an English doctor, insists on accompanying his aspiring actress daughter, Dorothy, on a trip to Hollywood. He fears she will fall prey to corruption and sleaze, but finds that it is actually he who is being corrupted at every turn. [Simon & Schuster]
Critic Reviews
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Outstanding
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Booklist Carol Haggas
With carefully understated yet scathingly observant humor, Nicholson seamlessly weaves three distinctly disparate stories into one kaleidoscopic spoof of the entertainment industry, the medical establishment, and wacky Hollywood lifestyles, for a wickedly riotous read. [1 May 2004, p.1547]
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Outstanding
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The Independent James Urquhart
A superb novel, which is choked with coincidence but relieved of contrivance by its slick, tongue-in-cheek plotting. Plain weirdness segues into historical gravity and back into delicious farce. Short and snappy chapters alternate between the three narratives to keep the pace up without losing their distinct voices.
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Favorable
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The Independent Murrough O'Brien
Factious and contrived? To some degree, but Nicholson is so able and funny a writer as to persuade us. He's a great mapmaker, portraying with equal assurance the worlds of restoration London, Hollywood and embittered but charmingly self-deprecating souls.
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Favorable
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LA Weekly Brendan Bernhard
Nicholson has a habit of giving you just slightly less than you expect, and of ending an episode a paragraph or two before you feel it's ready for culmination. The result is that you keep hungrily turning the pages for more... Another reason for the page turning is that he has a great story.
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Carmela Ciuraru
The novel's bizarre elements -- porn, real estate, Hollywood, past-lives therapy and the dodo -- intersect surprisingly well in what becomes a scathing commentary on fame, corruption, superficiality and hubris.
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Favorable
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Village Voice David NG
Appropriately for a novel set in the movie world, Dodo can easily be distilled to a ludicrously incestuous pitch: It's "The Player" meets "The Hours," with distinct shades of "The Limey."
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Favorable
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Salon Stephanie Zacharek
While the book's intricate tendrils don't quite tie up as neatly, or as satisfyingly, as you'd hope, it doesn't matter much. You could call The Hollywood Dodo a journey of discovery, viewed not through prissy rose-colored glasses, but through some very dark, sexy ones.
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Mixed
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Washington Post Carolyn See
Is this book heavy-handed to a fault, or feathery enough to fly away on the very lightest breeze? Is it profound, or is it the shallowest of literary exercises, not meant to be taken seriously in the slightest? Beats me.
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Unfavorable
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PopMatters John Sears
Nicholson has written a fluent and sometimes funny novel, but its jokes are sometimes predictable (to be successful in Hollywood, learn to give a good blowjob -- no shit, Sherlock; but a great quote from Cher provides one of the epigraphs) and its apparent ambitions are, ultimately, never quite realised.
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Unfavorable
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Publishers Weekly
Nicholson's transparent characterizations unfortunately aren't strong enough to translate all the rampant silliness into hearty belly laughs.
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Unfavorable
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The New York Times Book Review David L. Ulin
It's too connective, too good-natured -- in short, not cynical enough. Indeed, the further we read, the more we come to feel as though nothing is at stake. It's not that Nicholson doesn't offer complications, it's just that everything resolves without much trouble, leaving Rick and Henry essentially unscathed.
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Unfavorable
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Kirkus Reviews
Nicholson's sometimes-sharp lines don't make up for thin characters, worn subjects, and a way-too-clever narrative construct.
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