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A Novel
by Mischa Berlinski
Book Reviewed by:An exuberant, darkly humorous novel by the National Book Award–nominated author of Fieldwork.
Celebrated stage actress Mona Zahid wakes up on Thanksgiving morning to the clamor of guests packed into her Manhattan apartment and to a wave of dread: her in-laws are lurking on the other side of the bedroom door; she's still fighting with her husband; and in just a few weeks she will begin rehearsals as Shakespeare's Cleopatra, the hardest role in theater. In an impulsive burst, Mona bounds out the door with the family dog in tow ("I forgot the parsley!" is her lame excuse) to find her estranged mentor, Milton Katz, who was recently forced out of the legendary theater company he founded amid accusations of sexual misconduct. Mona's escape turns into an overnight adventure that brings her face-to-face with her past, with her creative power and its limitations, and ultimately, with all the people she has ever loved.
Beguilingly approachable and intricately constructed, at once funny and sad and wise, Mona Acts Out is a novel about acting and telling the truth, about how we play roles to get through our days, and how the great roles teach us how to live.
Just weeks away from playing the role of her life—Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra—Mona is resigned to spending Thanksgiving heavily self-medicated in order to endure the tide of her family and the underlying pressure that comes with a multi-faceted acting role. Given the narrative is almost entirely written in Mona's perspective, her view of supporting cast members does not always align with reality. They seem to take on different roles in Mona's story: the way Mona sees them in her memories, and the way Mona sees them in the present. The subtle inaccuracies between Mona's memories and what readers soon learn is the truth not only make these supporting characters more interesting but also add depth to Mona's personality...continued
Full Review
(682 words)
(Reviewed by Frankie Martinez).
In Mona Acts Out, seasoned actress Mona Zahid is about to start rehearsals for her role as Cleopatra in Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra. Mona approaches the whole thing with trepidation, citing that she's "never actually seen a great Cleopatra," as the character is many-layered and must command the stage through the show up until the last thirty minutes in the play, when she must "keep the audience already up past eleven right with her while she kill[s] herself."
Based on accounts written by Greek biographer and historian Plutarch, Antony and Cleopatra is Shakespeare's famous dramatization of the events surrounding Augustus Caesar's rise in the Roman Empire, with an emphasis on Caesar's ...
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I'm head over heels for this witty, tender, keenly intelligent exploration of art, artifice, and the human heart. Mischa Berlinski is a masterful and deeply empathetic storyteller, and Mona Acts Out is a pure delight.
