cover image Choking on Marlon Brando

Choking on Marlon Brando

Antonia Quirke. Overlook Press, $25.95 (310pp) ISBN 978-1-58567-915-7

""It is a very, very straightforward concept indeed that life is not like a movie, but one I have amazing difficulty in grasping,"" writes Quirke, a well-known UK movie critic, in this chronicle of her tumultuous love life with men on-screen and in-person. Clever and forthright, Quirke's debut is a charmer; she knows herself well, and actors even better, regularly capturing the allure of any given leading man in a single phrase: George Clooney is a Cary Grant type who ""has played and will play a man of the same age for three decades. That age being: no age at all. The Prime""; in Klaus Kinski, Quirke sees ""handsomeness gone insane...as though every feature on his face is trying to out-handsome the others."" Just as precise and memorable when writing about real-life lovers (""That is what he wanted above all. The look on my face. That is all you're allowed to give some men""), Quirke's nimble story-telling is enough to forgive a less-than-dynamic tale-Quirke loves man, man loves Quirke, things go bad, repeat-but her reluctance to take action may frustrate an audience expecting personal growth or obstacles overcome; nevertheless, fans of snappy writing, movie actors and dead-end romance will find Quirke's book a treat.