A marriage of cultures

Unfortunately, the move throws everything out of kilter. Paul gets a break but is expected to work long days and even nights at the studio, leaving Claire, a largely clueless mother, to struggle alone with William. With her own work suffering, and with resentment rising in her at feeling overburdened and under-appreciated, she and Paul decide that the only viable solution is to hire a nanny. After a near miss, they luck out with Lola, a middle-aged woman who has come to America to finance the lives and education of her own five children back in the Philippines.

At more than 400 pages, My Hollywood follows two carefully interwoven narratives, with alternating chapters spinning the story from the first-person perspectives of both Claire and Lola. It is a clever trick on the author’s part, because what it presents us with, in addition to an advancement of the plot, is an insightful balancing and contrasting of both class and cultural differences as well as throwing into question exactly what are the things that hold the greatest value in life and just how much of a person can be bought and sold. Through such meticulously crafted method, we get to view the chasing down of dreams, the sacrifices made and justified, and finally, terribly, the slow crumbling of two very different marriages, one that shares a bed and one that stands thousands of miles apart.