Behind the Scenes

by Sophie Childs

[Leah]

When Niten at So Vain Books emailed me, offering me the opportunity to blurb one of their new novels Behind The Scenes, I felt quite pleased. I’m very rarely offered the opportunity to provide blurbs for a book, so it made me feel quite special to be asked, although I only agreed because I genuinely wanted to read Behind The Scenes. I absolutely love novels that delve into the underbelly of the film world and this one sounded delightful!

Books set in and around the film industry are my favourites. I’m not a big movie buff, but I do like to know what goes on behind the scenes, and the aptly titled Behind The Scenes does that. We get to see what it’s like for a normal girl like Bethan to live the dream – to be a personal assistant to a famous movie star (or going to be famous) Vincent Constantine. One day I would love to go and see a film being made behind the scenes – well, actually, I would like to go over to LA and be an audience member when they film The Big Bang Theory. That’s my dream!

What I liked best about Behind The Scenes were the characters. Yes, there were a few cliche characters and a few cliche plot points – Bethan’s best friend Maria talking about her new “boyfriend” was the most obvious thing ever, and I just wanted to slap her for being such an awful person, especially since Bethan was actually really lovely. She was literally the sweetest – she didn’t hold grudges, she did her job to the best of her ability (and did it bloody well), and despite the fact that people continuously pooed on her, she didn’t let it get her down and I love people like Bethan who get up when they’re knocked down. I also really loved getting to know Vincent, who despite not being a big Cumberbatch fan (I literally haven’t seen him in anything) I sort of felt Vincent was a bit like him.

In my personal opinion, I probably would have written the novel in first-person. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the third-person narrative and Childs did it well, I just feel we would have got a much better insight in to Bethan with first-person and since the novel was always focused on Bethan, that wouldn’t have been a problem to do at all. Apart from that, there was very little wrong with the novel. A first-person narrative would have just allowed us to feel more involved in the story.

Behind The Scenes was such a fun read, I am so glad I took the chance on the novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Bethan, Vincent and (in particular) Jonathan! Everyone needs a Jonathan in their lives to pep them up (although I was curious about his orientation the first time we met him!!!!). This is definitely one to pick up if you’re a movie buff and it’s great to go behind the scenes on a film, especially with such a delectable actor like Vincent…