arts & entertainment
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Summer Reading from page 49
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In his debut novel, Antonia Lively
Breaks the Silence (Algonquin), David
Samuel Levinson follows Catherine
Strayed as she wonders about the truth
behind her promising writer husband's
mysterious death in a small upstate New
York college town in the 1990s. Catherine's
world continues to shatter as a former
lover and mentor, a powerful critic who
had destroyed her husband's chances of
success, takes a job at the college, bringing
along his newest protege, Antonia Lively.
As Antonia secretly works to discover the
secrets behind Catherine and her hus-
band's murder for her next novel, mysteri-
ous and frightening things begin to occur
to Catherine, leading to a novel full of
suspense and intrigue.
In The View from Penthouse B
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by Elinor
Lipman, Gwen-Laura Schmidt finds
herself unexpectedly widowed. Margot, a
Ponzi-poor divorcee, invites her younger
sister to move in, as much to help Gwen
out of her mourning as to make ends
meet. Along with a third boarder — hand-
some, cupcake-baking Anthony — they
work together to make money and get
Gwen out dating again. When Margot's
ex shows up in the apartment downstairs,
they are in for a wild ride. A witty and
sweet novel, The View from Penthouse B
will resonate with those finding them-
selves in the mid-stages of their lives.
In her debut novel, The Execution of
Noa P. Singleton (Crown), Elizabeth L.
Silver writes a gripping tale about a young
woman on death row, what she did to get
there, and why she may never share the
truth with a living soul, including her
victim Sarah's mother, Marlene. A high-
Jews
Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
Lefevre Fever
Odds are you have seen Rachelle
Lefevre, 34. The pretty redheaded
actress played the evil vampire
Victoria Sutherland in the first two
Twilight films and Paul Giamatti's
first wife in the 2009 movie Barney's
Version, based on the late Mordecai
Richler novel. She's been in several
short-lived TV shows, including play-
ing a doctor on CBS's A Gifted Man,
and has done a lot of TV guest roles.
On Friday, June 28, her latest film,
White House Down, opens. Channing
Tatum stars as a
Capitol policeman
who wants to be a
member of the presi-
dent's Secret Service
detail. As he is tak-
ing his daughter on
a White House tour,
a paramilitary group
Lefevre
50 June 27 • 2013
powered attorney, Marlene has initiated a
clemency petition on Noa's behalf despite
asking the judge for the death penalty dur-
ing the trial. As the novel unfolds, we learn
about the events leading up to Sarah's
murder, as well as the links binding Noa's,
Sarah's and Marlene's fates. Readers may
think they know where this tale of love,
anguish and deception is headed, but be
prepared to be surprised.
Arthur and Hilly Wise, a father-son pair,
are the stars of Stuart Nadler's new novel,
Wise Men (Reagan Arthur Books). Arthur
is an ambulance-chasing lawyer turned
legal powerhouse, whose claim to fame
is a class-action lawsuit he wins against
an airline. For Arthur and Hilly, however,
conflict remains a constant factor, first evi-
denced in the summer of 1952 when the
showboating Arthur buys a huge summer
launches an attack,
and Tatum's char-
acter gets a chance
to show how tough
he is. Lefevre plays
Tatum's ex-wife.
Their daughter is
played by Joey
King,13.
King
Lefevre also co-
stars in the new six-part CBS minise-
ries Under the Dome, which debuted
on Monday, June 24. It's a sci-fi thrill-
er based on a Stephen King novel and
is produced by Steven Spielberg, 66.
There will be an encore TV showing
on Sunday, June 30, at 9 p.m., or view
it online or On Demand. Additional
episodes in the miniseries air 10 p.m.
Mondays, beginning July 1.
Lefevre was born and raised in
Montreal. Her father is of French and
Irish heritage; her mother is Jewish.
In 2011, she told Venice Magazine:
"I'm Jewish, and I lost my great-
grandfather, who was shot down in a
home on Cape Cod — much to Hilly's cha-
grin — and Hilly subsequently befriends
the African-American caretaker and his
good-looking niece. In a story that spans
six decades, Nadler examines the relation-
ship between Arthur and Hilly while tack-
ling the themes of the times, such as race
and class.
A group of six artsy teenagers at a sum-
mer camp in New England in 1974 make a
pact to never lose touch. Almost 40 years
later, the six are still in contact. What
happens in between is the arc of Meg
Wolitzer's new novel, The Interestings
(Riverhead Hardcover), so named for the
nickname the group gives itself on that
fateful night. An examination of friendship
over the years, and the way we, as people,
grow and change throughout our lives, the
novel is also a veritable cultural chronicle
pogrom, and I lost great-grandparents
in the Holocaust. When Fugitive Pieces
(a 2007 film about the Holocaust)
came along, it was just one of those
things where I read it and thought, 1
have to be in this.' My stepfather is a
rabbi; I'm not a religious Jew, but I'm
certainly well informed."
Film Note
Also opening on June 28 is The Heat,
a comedy starring Sandra Bullock
and Melissa McCarthy as, respec-
tively, a by-the-book, prim FBI agent
and a break-the-rules, slobby Boston
detective. They team up to take
down a drug lord. Michael Rapaport,
43, who made his
1992 film debut in
the Detroit-based
Zebrahead, has a
juicy supporting role
as McCarthy's "just
out of prison, with
ties to the drug lord"
Rapaport
brother.
•
of the past four decades that will especially
resonate with boomers.
The Tin Horse (Random House) by
Janice Steinberg focuses on protagonist
Elaine Greenstein, an octogenarian with a
legendary law career. As Elaine prepares to
move to a retirement home, she stumbles
upon a clue about the whereabouts of her
twin sister, Barbara, who ran away nearly
60 years before at age 18. Forced to recon-
cile with the possibility of seeing her sister
again after all these years, Elaine is thrust
back into the past and the life she and
Barbara shared in a Jewish neighborhood
in California in the 1920s and '30s. Elaine,
thoughtful and studious, and Barbara,
a rule-breaker with dreams of nearby
Hollywood, were joined by love and a
fierce rivalry until Barbara's disappear-
ance. A story about the bonds between sis-
The film's director is Paul Feig
(Bridesmaids), who grew up in Mount
Clemens. Feig's father was born
Jewish but converted to Christian
Science, the religion in which Paul
Feig was raised.
Unhappy Camper
On June 18, former Detroiter and
Hillel Day School student Selma Blair,
now 41, was dropped from the cast of
the FX comedy Anger Management.
The series stars Charlie Sheen as
Charlie Goodson, an anger manage-
ment therapist. Blair played Goodson's
therapist and "friend with benefits."
Blair reportedly complained that
Sheen's work ethic
and other quirks
made him impossible
to work with. Sheen
demanded "her
head," and got it.
You don't have to be
an anger therapist to
see the irony.
Blair
❑