Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?: A Novel

Product Information

This story is so good. I could not put it down and I had to know how it would end. It’s interesting because you know the truth ahead of the characters but how it got there is so fascinating. And what the characters do with that information moving forward is also thought-provoking as well. While Elise thinks it’s time for the public to know the truth—Sarah doesn’t agree. Do you think Kitty wanted the world to know as well?

Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? is such an interesting story that really makes you think. It shines a spotlight on a dark area of American history. I think it will foster much discussion and learning. How did both Mary and Lillian change once they took on their new names? What are some of the key differences between Kitty and Emma and how they approach passing? On the Virtual Book Tour podcast, Paul talked about her interest in fame as a subject. “I’ve always been very interested in the notion of celebrity…as a microcosm. I’m very into movies and storytelling in general. At one point, I did go to film school, and realized that it was writing, specifically, that I wanted to do.” The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.Although I found the premise utterly intriguing and the writing to be bingeable, I struggled with the overall execution of this book, which left it feeling like a very average read with a lot to say but an inability to actually do so. I loved this story so much. I devoured it in 2 days. The past scenes of Kitty were my fav. I love the world that was built. It gave me a knew lense to look at people who were passing in a diff. light Actually, yes. This weird, lovely and sweetly satisfying novel has a lot in common with the 1990s rom-coms Clover likes to sedate herself with after a patient dies. It’s engaging and accessible. There’s even a meet-cute involving an upper-crusty guy with a dying grandmother (who, naturally, turns out to be the coolest). But Clover’s emergence from a shuttered life is moving enough to elicit tears, and Brammer’s take on death and grieving profound enough to feel genuinely instructional. There’s even a trip to Maine, my personal favorite seaside location; this one wins for hitting two of my criteria at once.

Book club questions for Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul explore a mesmerizing journey through the glitz and glamour of old Hollywood, intertwined with the irresistible allure of modern-day showbiz. Paul's debut is a riveting, often heartbreaking tale that explores race, privilege, and celebrity in America through the eyes of a one-of-a-kind character. Readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Piper Huguley will be enthralled." The truth behind Kitty’s ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them. The novel is told through different timelines and perspectives—mainly Kitty in the past and Elise in the present. Did you like the use of multiple timelines? Were you more engaged with one timeline over the other?

What began as an expose evolves, as Ruby writes, into an exploration of her family’s past. Nora is not the woman Ruby has hated all these years. Witty, wise, and vulnerable, she is desperate to reconcile with her daughter. As the magazine deadline draws near and Ruby finishes what has begun to seem to her an act of brutal betrayal, she is forced to grow up and at last to look at her mother–and herself–through the eyes of a woman. And she must, finally, allow herself to love.