Entanglement: A Novel (The Hollywood Lights Series)
by Katie Rose Guest Pryal
About
Awkward, 21-year-old Greta Donovan, the fiercely intelligent daughter of a philandering physics professor, doesn’t relate to people nearly as well as she relates to facts and figures. While Greta gets quarks and string theory, she hasn’t a clue where men are concerned.
Which is exactly why she doesn’t see it coming when someone tries to kill her.
Newly transplanted in L.A. after being kicked out of her father's house, Greta moves in with her best friend Daphne Saito, a troubled girl with an abusive past. The charismatic Daphne teaches Greta how to wear stilettos, apply lip gloss, and navigate 1990s Hollywood nightlife. Daphne is determined to succeed, and she drags an unwilling Greta into the limelight with her.
When Greta walks out on her, Daphne tries to win her back. But Daphne’s desperate tactics just push Greta further away. Reeling, Daphne betrays her friend. Can Greta survive? Can she forgive?
A coming of age novel focusing on female friendships
Interview with the Author
Q. What was your inspiration to write Entanglement?
A. I think we’re all fascinated by the people who don’t quite fit in to the normal cone of expected human behavior. These are the people who were outcasts in high school, and who maybe were in college, too. They might have had a friend or two, but they struggled to say the right thing, and it showed. Maybe you wondered, What goes on inside their heads? In Entanglement, with Greta, I get to show you.
Q. It seems as if it falls into several genres. Will it make us laugh, cry? Keep us guessing?
A. Entanglement is a plot-driven story that begins with a crime that you must unravel as you read—like a mystery—yet it focuses on the close relationship between two women—which means it’s a love story. The main character, Greta, for all that she is a misfit, is very funny. Part of her humor stems from her intelligence, and part of it stems from her unique way of seeing the world. She finds most people wildly irrational, and she isn’t afraid to say so.
Q. What makes Entanglement fresh?
A. Many great books have been set in LA. My favorite is Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I needed to find a way to tell an LA story that didn’t replay old themes, or a way that would at least bend those themes into new, unpredictable shapes. No one in this coming of age novel wants to be a movie star, for example. In fact, they heap scorn on those who do, even if they do enjoy the LA night life.
Q. The story focuses on female friendship, in this case between two 20-something girls. What can you say about their relationship?
A. Everything about the girls’ familial relationships was broken. These two had no one else until they met each other. It’s hard to imagine a friendship like that. I had a friendship like that once, but it’s gone now. I wanted to write about how that intensity can keep you alive when it seems like nothing else will, and what it’s like to lose it.
Q. What do you enjoy reading?
A. I will read any book except ones where the female characters are afterthoughts or nonexistent. I love historical romance novels, urban fantasies, Booker Prize winners, SF (especially by women, and I wish there were more), Tana French (she’s her own category), P.D. James (so is she), and of course that great big category called “Women’s Fiction.” I'm also interested in themes of emotional abuse and dysfunctional families/dysfunctional relationships.
Which is exactly why she doesn’t see it coming when someone tries to kill her.
Newly transplanted in L.A. after being kicked out of her father's house, Greta moves in with her best friend Daphne Saito, a troubled girl with an abusive past. The charismatic Daphne teaches Greta how to wear stilettos, apply lip gloss, and navigate 1990s Hollywood nightlife. Daphne is determined to succeed, and she drags an unwilling Greta into the limelight with her.
When Greta walks out on her, Daphne tries to win her back. But Daphne’s desperate tactics just push Greta further away. Reeling, Daphne betrays her friend. Can Greta survive? Can she forgive?
A coming of age novel focusing on female friendships
Interview with the Author
Q. What was your inspiration to write Entanglement?
A. I think we’re all fascinated by the people who don’t quite fit in to the normal cone of expected human behavior. These are the people who were outcasts in high school, and who maybe were in college, too. They might have had a friend or two, but they struggled to say the right thing, and it showed. Maybe you wondered, What goes on inside their heads? In Entanglement, with Greta, I get to show you.
Q. It seems as if it falls into several genres. Will it make us laugh, cry? Keep us guessing?
A. Entanglement is a plot-driven story that begins with a crime that you must unravel as you read—like a mystery—yet it focuses on the close relationship between two women—which means it’s a love story. The main character, Greta, for all that she is a misfit, is very funny. Part of her humor stems from her intelligence, and part of it stems from her unique way of seeing the world. She finds most people wildly irrational, and she isn’t afraid to say so.
Q. What makes Entanglement fresh?
A. Many great books have been set in LA. My favorite is Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I needed to find a way to tell an LA story that didn’t replay old themes, or a way that would at least bend those themes into new, unpredictable shapes. No one in this coming of age novel wants to be a movie star, for example. In fact, they heap scorn on those who do, even if they do enjoy the LA night life.
Q. The story focuses on female friendship, in this case between two 20-something girls. What can you say about their relationship?
A. Everything about the girls’ familial relationships was broken. These two had no one else until they met each other. It’s hard to imagine a friendship like that. I had a friendship like that once, but it’s gone now. I wanted to write about how that intensity can keep you alive when it seems like nothing else will, and what it’s like to lose it.
Q. What do you enjoy reading?
A. I will read any book except ones where the female characters are afterthoughts or nonexistent. I love historical romance novels, urban fantasies, Booker Prize winners, SF (especially by women, and I wish there were more), Tana French (she’s her own category), P.D. James (so is she), and of course that great big category called “Women’s Fiction.” I'm also interested in themes of emotional abuse and dysfunctional families/dysfunctional relationships.
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