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In his follow-up to A California Childhood, James Franco reflects on his life in Hollywood and beyond through an intimate and powerful series of poems, artwork, and short stories.In his follow-up to the critically acclaimed A California Childhood, James Franco presents a compelling portrait of the life of a young actor coming into his own in Hollywood. Told in an absorbing array of literary styles and art forms—from short stories and poems to personal snapshots, paintings and self-portraits—Hollywood Dreaming brilliantly pieces together the youth of a seemingly familiar actor, playfully blurring the line between reality and fiction. The escapades of a jaded Hollywood insider counter a series of inter-connected stories about a boy named Shrimp and the hopeful young actor he becomes. Each piece of the story, whether visual or textual, thoughtfully peels away another layer of the book’s protagonist, whose character unfolds like a Russian nesting doll. Ultimately, the collage that James Franco creates becomes a fascinating caricature of himself, a performance on the page that is equal parts provocative, funny, and emotional.
I like to think of Hollywood Dreaming by James Franco as a companion piece to his previously published A California Childhood. There is some overlap in time, but in general, it seems to pick up where Childhood left off. The book is comprised of three parts: poems, childhood stories, and stories of young adulthood. I thought this was a remarkable book. The introspection and profundity with which Mr. Franco writes is awe-inspiring. Although this is a work of fiction, the author himself acknowledges that the book could be viewed as "an autobiography told as fiction by fictional versions of real people." Photos and paintings by the author are interspersed throughout the text, rendering the book a visual experience as well. Readers should note that the book can be rather dark and does contain profanity and situations that could be construed as crude.