2.5 ⭐️ rounded up

The Comeback delves into the familiar territory of Hollywood's dark underbelly, portraying the experiences of actresses with a well-worn narrative.

While the story hints at a timely reckoning, Grace's journey feels like a repetitive trope rather than a fresh exploration. The relentless bleakness of Grace's ordeal, coupled with underdeveloped characters aside from the protagonist, made it a challenging read.

Despite the author's skilful depiction of Grace's struggles and relationships, the lack of relief from the darkness left me longing for more variation. While Grace is a fully realised character, the antagonist, Able Yorke, falls flat, lacking depth and complexity.

I also found the parallels drawn between Grace's Hollywood turmoil and her sister Esme's high school struggles feel superficial and could have been explored more deeply to enhance the narrative's themes.

Overall, The Comeback left me wanting more originality and depth in its execution.

I really wanted to enjoy this - I’d heard such good things and have been waiting for it to be published in the UK, but I found it hard to motivate myself to get through the story to witness her overcoming her trauma.

This book follows movie star Grace who became a household name at a young age as an actress who credits Able a 40 something year old film director for making her a star. The book flicks between then and now as we begin to realise the close relationship they share is not all it seems to be. The book discusses topics including SA, family dynamics and men taking advantage of young girls. I found the narrator Grace to be very sad and questioning of life due to her past trauma. She struggles to build relationships due to being taken advantage of at a young age and being within the film industry. I enjoyed reading this book and the writing was perfect for me and believable. I was very interested in where the story would go and whether Grace would end up healing from her past. I will be recommending to others

This is a truly moving book about the very real issues that go on in Hollywood and the film industry as a whole. You could very quickly tell it was inspired by the Me Too movement and I think it has really important messages throughout but I would check the trigger warnings.

I did find it a bit slow and unclear at times but overall an interesting read.

Grace Hyde is a child when she is plucked from obscurity by producer, Able. As Grace Turner, her career grows from strength to strength as Able’s protege. Now older, Grace’s career has plunged and she is back living with her estranged parents. Recovering from a mental breakdown and years of alcohol and drug abuse, Grace has to process events to make her comeback.

I found this story gripping from the outset. I would say the chapters are short and punchy, and I felt like they worked well with linking the story together. Grace is a tricky character to get to know, and it took me a while to understand her. I think the author did a good job in depicting Grace as she may appear on the outside: surface-level selfish and troubled. However, the book is reflective, and as the structure shows Grace revisiting past key memories, I think these experiences give her character a greater depth. There are dark moments, with graphic depictions of sexual abuse in places, so will not be appropriate or appealing for all readers. I think Ella Berman writes well to include enough detail of Grace’s story without going too far. Whilst the abuse is pivotal to her story, I wouldn’t say the abuse overloads the narrative, so if readers are curious, I hope it wouldn’t put them off.

Overall, I feel Grace is a vulnerable and fragile character. I felt more sympathy for her as the picture of her experiences builds. I also really liked the softer elements of the book, especially in aspects of her relationships with Emilia, Laurel, Dylan and Esme.

I was a fan of Berman’s last novel Before We Were Innocent and think this book also has that glamorous-turned-gritty element to it. I would recommend for fans of the author’s previous work and those who want a dark and gripping drama.

Originally published in 2020, Ella Berman's debut novel "The Comeback" continued the conversation around the #MeToo movement within the context of Hollywood through its fictional characters' experiences. In April 2024, as it was published in the UK for the first time by @headofzeus, it did so in conjunction with the release of the "Quiet On Set" docuseries & further discussions around child stars.

So, what is this consistently "on trend" book about?

Its title, "The Comeback", refers to the personal journey of its main character & former child star Grace Turner as she attempts to return to the public life she abruptly disappeared from a year prior. Tentatively sober & with a different outlook on fame & privacy, she reunites with the people most important to her & those she must finally confront to put the past behind them.

Grace tells her story in the first person, alternating between past & present, & readers are therefore fully immersed in her emotions & mental state. In respect to her complicated relationship with her family (e.g. "jealous" mother, estranged younger sister who's going through her own scandal), addiction recovery (e.g. is she "Marilyn" or "Britney"?), interactions with agents/managers/directors, & what happened between her & the man who discovered her as a teen. You don't necessarily support her self-destructive behaviour, but you may come to understand & sympathise with it once her reasons are revealed.

Through her, Berman also presents her feelings on the treatment of child actors & women in Hollywood, by their peers & the media. We follow as Grace is manipulated, groomed, & more by someone she trusted, distanced from anyone who could have helped, & left with the confusion this all creates in adulthood (especially when it comes to romantic relationships, identity struggles, & seemingly normal stuff such as phones/social media).

The narrative itself is quite slow burn, with the focus being on the setting & characters, & the MC's quest for revenge plays out in a realistically anticlimactic way as it's more complex than many would like to believe.

For example, having to consider the value of the truth against the impact it'll have on careers & individuals, as well as summoning the strength it requires & finding the right means to make it known.

Having previously enjoyed the author's other work, "Before We Were Innocent", & the similar in many ways "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" by Taylor Jenkins Reid, this didn't quite live up to expectations. However, it was still engaging from start to finish.

Thank you to @headofzeus & @netgalley for accepting my request to read this eARC.

Since she was plucked from obscurity as a London school girl to become one of Hollywood's shiniest stars, people have told Grace how lucky she is. She doesn't feel lucky though. Traumatised by years of abuse at the hands of the producer who defined her career, and struggling to mask her pain with alcohol and cocaine, Grace flees Los Angeles for good, hoping to find peace with the family she distanced herself from as a young teenager. The past won't stay in the past, however, and, when she hears that her abuser is being honoured with a lifetime achievement award, Grace must confront what happened to her once and for all.

Originally published in 2020 but conceived of in early 2017, months before the #MeToo movement exposed widespread sexual harassment, assault and rape culture in Hollywood, The Comeback reads as a fictionalised account of the experiences of actresses such as Rose McGowan at the hands of Hollywood heavyweights like Harvey Weinstein. The story is not explicitly set in 2016, but it is heavily hinted throughout that a reckoning is coming, and that Grace could have been one of the first women to break the omertà.

Reading the book in 2024, not long after the 'Quiet on Set' documentary revealed a culture of abuse, harassment, racism and sexism on the set of Nickelodeon shows overseen by executive producer Dan Schneider, Grace's story also mirrors those of myriad young actresses, such as Alexa Nikolas and Jennette McCurdy. Author Ella Berman paints an unsettingly accurate picture of a young girl left exposed and vulnerable because her parents felt intimidated and out of their depth, and because of the overwhelming message that she should be grateful, be amiable, be a good sport; as Grace notes at one point, women and girls who have traded on looks for cash feel complicit in their own oppression.

The Comeback is unrelentingly bleak for the most part - at times almost unbearably so - as Berman details Grace's experiences of being groomed, isolated and abused in flashbacks, while the present timeline deals with her struggles with mental heath, addiction and feelings of disconnection from both her public image and her friends and family. The writing is good - brutal, vivid and realistic - and Grace a fully-realised, layered character, but I personally felt a little relief amidst the darkness would have made it easier to read. To be honest, the only thing that kept me reading at times was the hope of Grace taking her revenge against Able Yorke and coming out on top, and I didn’t feel completely satisfied by the ending in terms of plot or character development.

Grace's relationships with her teenage sister, Esme, her parents, and her estranged husband, Dylan, are thoughtfully portrayed, reflecting the complexities of supporting a loved one through an incredibly difficult time. I appreciated how Berman gives each of the characters the opportunity to push back against the limited role Grace has cast them in in her life, challenging her perceptions of herself and those around her. In contrast, the author does somewhat rely on the reader's familiarity with Harvey Weinstein et al rather than building Able's character, and he feels rather flat and cartoonishly villainous as a result.

The author tries to establish parallels between Grace's experience in Hollywood and Esme's travails with sexting, slut shaming and social media at her high school, but I felt that these could have been explored further to really emphasise the themes the author was alluding to. The Comeback is being re-published after the success of Berman's second novel, Before We Were Innocent, and I do feel that that book showed a more developed grasp of theme and motif.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

A slow burn for 85% of the book with what felt like a rushed ending that fizzled out. That said I was rooting for Grace in her redemption era and willing her to succeed the entire time. Overall I enjoyed it much like Berman’s other book, Before We Were Innocent should you want more “unreliable” female protagonists.

Thank you Aria & Aries and NetGalley for the chance to read The Comeback before it’s re-released. It’s out this Thursday, 11th April #TheComeback #NetGalley

The Comeback is Ella Berman’s debut novel from 2017 that will be published again this month, following on from the success of her recent novel, Before We Were Innocent, which was a Jenna’s Book Club pick. I found that book to be just okay, so I’m not fully sure why I requested this one on Netgalley. Perhaps I read the blurb and thought it might make for a good holiday read.

Alas this one was very bland; I couldn’t wait to finish it. It’s basically another #MeToo novel, based around a former child actor who spent years being sexually and emotionally abused by the man who gave her her big break.. There’s no hook though, no tension and no particularly likeable or warm characters. Everyone is very two dimensional and the writing, while not offensive, is terribly boring. Five hours of my life that I’ll never get back. Strictly for YA/Ella Berman fans only. 2/5 stars

The Comeback
by Ella Berman

Although this is Berman's debut, it is only being published now in Ireland and the UK, following last year's Before We Were Innocent, which I really liked.

This is a slow burn character driven story of a young woman who has been the victim of a Weinsteinesque Hollywood film director. A year ago she disappeared on the day before her first Golden Globe nomination, upending her teen star career, and the story opens with her coming to terms with her new lower status in LA hierarchy.

Slowly, through reflective first person narrative we learn how Able Yorke plucked her from obscurity and moulded her into the most exciting starlet of her time, but we also begin to understand the power dynamics that were inherent in the movie business before the #metoo movement blew the walls down.

I couldn't help thinking about Britney Spears' recent memoir throughout, about how easy is can be for young women who are hungry for fame to be so vulnerable to the coercive control of manipulative men who ultimately commodify them and exploit them in every way possible.

Berman really drills into the way the social system of this ( to the rest of us) bizarre industry is completely geared up for these power players to always win and their pawns, their prey, to become so ensconced in the trap that there is no way out. Who would ever believe the word of a "drug addled", "mental case" over a pillar of the community?

An uncomfortable, yet redemptive story of a young woman who's rage finds a voice at just the right time.

Publication date:11th April 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #ariaandaries for the ARC

This is another brutal book that does not hold its punches. It is based around Grace Turner, a former child actress who, at the height of her glittering adult career, on the eve of her first Golden Globe nomination, disappears...
I say disappears, she actually runs away home. To her parents, for a year. Until they start to gently (?) encourage her to go back. Which eventually she does. But this time, she's sober and her eyes are more open. And then she is asked to present an award to Able Yorke a director who has pretty much controlled her entire life.
But as the action continues in the present, we also witness her origin story. How she was plucked from obscurity, how she and her family travelled to the States in order for her to work on a film. Oh the glamour, the glitz... or actually, not. There's a dark side to things. A very dark side...
Yes, OK so there is an element of #metoo in all of this. But it is actually so much more than that. It's about power and control, about a strong influential person can basically manipulate a young innocent girl. It's about choosing the wrong people to trust and letting the good ones go. But it's also about the fightback... and, a kinda coming of age...
Boy was this a brutal, hard hitting read. It opened my eyes about a few things , especially some misconceptions I might have had about certain personality types. I'd love to wax lyrical more but, spoilers... It's is quite dark and depressing, but there is always that glimmer of hope, bubbling under the surface. It's very character driven and the character's are brilliantly drawn and all hold their own within the story being told. Grace is all things wonderful as a character. Naive, vulnerable, lonely, but also quite smart and determined... By the end of the book I was actually feeling quite sad that I would soon have to be saying goodbye to her.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

The Comeback follows traumatised young actress Grace , detailing her unique upbringing in the spotlight and the effects of coming to terms with being groomed and assaulted by a well-respected and acclaimed male film director. The book alternates between the past and present, reflecting on the past and Grace’s current path to reclaim her career and sense of self.

The novel navigates heavy topics such as sexual assault, predatory behaviour, mental illness and substance abuse in a thought-provoking and modern context through a story of a survivor of Hollywood abuse.

This is a case of ‘it’s me, not you’. I think I have read too many books about ‘BTS for young female actresses’ lately (or the last few years) and even though the story didn’t capture me, like I thought it might have, I will say there were things I liked, and didn’t like.

Grace is the star. She is the one pulls herself up and works on the relationships and things that matter. Seeing that happen in the pages of this book was so good. I get that people are going to have a problem with her decision-making, attitudes, behaviours etc, but I think when you didn’t get an organic growing up process, coupled with experiencing abuse, then you don’t act the way ‘you should’. So, all of that was fine with me.

I enjoyed that the narrative of this story wasn’t so loud and in your face. Don’t get me wrong, these are important issues that need to be outed, but at the same time, when they are written in books and there is high drama of calling out and everything coming up roses for everyone etc, is not realistic. This ‘quieter’ way of telling the story now and in the past was more realistic to me. The reality of working towards being better, getting better, for you, and not for the empowerment of all women-kind, is the more likely outcome for most people’s experiences and I think that was handled well. I do think the pacing seemed slow, but then again maybe if this is more literary fiction and character driven, then the pacing is probably spot-on.

A brilliant thriller set within the glamourous world of Hollywood with all its dreadful MeToo trappings, this was a gripping read with vivid characters, a great plot, and terrific set pieces. Joyful!

The plot delves deeply into the theme of how victims can gradually convince themselves that bad things are happening for valid reasons, even when they're not.

The book summary reminded me of a movie I liked, which made me want to read it. But I didn't really click with the writing style. There were too many loose ends for my taste, although I get they can be important. On the bright side, I did enjoy how the author handled conflicts inside and outside the characters.

When I first read the blurb of this book, I requested it straight away and I’m so glad that I did. This is a story of a woman claiming back her life after experiencing sexual assault and emotional abuse from someone who was supposed to protect her.

I found grace’s character to be a strong representation of the #MeToo movement and it was so eye opening to see the struggle she faces throughout the book.

She is courageous and a brilliantly written character.

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

3 stars: I don't usually DNF books that I'm reviewing, but I had to stop reading this at around 30%. I really struggled to keep reading this book - it felt slow and directionless, and a third into the book, almost nothing has happened. The flashbacks were more interesting to me, and perhaps I would have kept reading if the book had been in chronological order instead of flipping back and forth. It had so much potential as reading about childhood stars falling out of fame and their experiences growing up in a horribly adult setting could be incredibly interesting and thought-provoking, but the execution didn't work well for me. The Comeback does cover important issues and I can see it working well as a film or TV series, but as a book it did not hold my attention enough to keep reading.

Grace was a 14-year old English schoolgirl when she was selected by charismatic Able to star in his new Hollywood series. This transformed the life of Grace and her family who moved to America with her. The book opens with Grace, now aged 22, returning to her parents' home. The story is told slowly, in small pieces, so there are lots of unexpected revelations as we find out about Grace's life until now. Grace has suffered a lot of trauma, and is trying to sort herself out, deciding whether to take any action or learn to live with her past. She has some good friends in Laura and Dylan who support Grace, but don't know the secrets she is keeping.
Grace is an abrasive and sarcastic character, and very funny at times. Her growing friendship with her younger sister Esme and their support for each other is lovely. Beautiful writing. Highly recommended.

Painful story telling; it's hard hitting but beautifully written.

Grace Turner was once a normal teenager living in London with her family until she was scouted for a movie directed by Able Yorke. Now 22, Grace had lived in LA and living her dreams, all while her public life had been preened with Able at her side, as well as the meticulously created team picked at the beginning of her career. So why did Grace Turner disappear just as her career was about to reach stardom?

This book was first published on the heels of the #MeToo movement and is a powerful, raw story about the difficulty of being a victim, healing and claiming your truth. It's a captivativating read as Grace is, in herself, a complex character but, it makes it all the more intriguing to live inside Grace's head and feel her pain, her thoughts and explore her understanding of the world around her.