Lead Review

• Book: American Dream Machine
• Location: Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Author: Matthew Specktor

American Dream Machine skips along easily, which is impressive considering the brilliant and wacky details that Specktor has packed in. Most of the movie stars are fictional, but there are cameos from the likes of Jack Nicholson and George Clooney, and the overall impression is of an exposé, but one written with fondness. Hollywood always looks better from a distance of a few decades, and the novel is never more enjoyable than when depicting Beau’s shambolic foray into movie-making, “The Dog’s Tail”, and the creation of American Dream Machine, both in the 1970s. Tim Lewis

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