Sara Faith Alterman My Fifteen Minutes

My Fifteen Minutes

Sara Faith Alterman

Avon, Sep 2005, $16.95, 288 pp.

ISBN: 0060755911

In Southern California, size 12 waitress Julie Jorlamo thinks God is missing an angel since highly regarded actor Chad Downing moved into her building. Chad is conducting research on how the working class lives for an upcoming role. She will soon reconsider her belief star system when the paparazzi catch Julie leaving Chad's temporary apartment in a bathrobe due to a "matchmaking" canine. This explodes into a media feeding frenzy. to learn who is the lover of America's heartthrob. Phil the publicist drums up the concept of royal Hollywood dating a commoner.

As Chad escorts Julie around the town to the swankiest of galas and events, the star-struck waitress sees how shallow the glamour and glitter truly are. As her fifteen minutes of fame begins to wane, Julie just wants to return to her normal boring life as Hollywood has opened her eyes to celebrity-ism.

MY FIFTEEN MINUTES is a fabulous satirical tale that lampoons the American worship of movie stars and other figures on pedestals. The story line is at its lampoonist best when the starry eyed waitress oohs and ahs her way into high society though she just the waitress next door, which she soon receives an education as such to remind of this. When the plot veers towards chick lit territory it loses some of the sting as inanity replaces stinging social wit. Still this is a fabulous glimpse at who is a hero.

Harriet Klausner