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Holly's first book is a comedy called Celluloid and it is has been hailed as 'the best book ever about a film lover who tries to prevent his local, independent cinema from being closed and turned into flats by a psychotic gangster property developer.'
Holly's favourite story is A Christmas Carol and loves movies from the30s-50s.
Holly was born and raised in the UK and will probably perish there.
Reviewed by Donnie Burgess for Readers' Favorite
Jimmy Clifford is the proprietor of a movie memorabilia/DVD rental shop, mostly because he finds he relates more to legendary stars of the silver screen than to real people. Aside from his shop and the local pharmacy, the only place he truly enjoys going to is the local cinema, The Crypt. When he discovers that the landmark theater is to be demolished to make way for apartments, he decides that someone should do something about it. When his friends, Oswald, Nerrin and Pluto, along with his brother, Norman, decide that the someone should be him, Jimmy specifies that someone other than him should do something about it. Since The Crypt is his local haunt, and no one else is likely to do anything to stop its destruction, his friends are ultimately able to convince him that he is the theater’s only hope.
Celluloid by Holly Curtis follows Jimmy as he, along with the aid of his quirky group of friends, organizes a charity cabaret to try to save the local theater. Holly Curtis does a wonderful job of creating a diverse cast of characters, each with their own peculiarities, strengths and weaknesses. Each person Jimmy encounters in his quest to save the theater seems a bit more bizarre than the last. The idiosyncratic cast of characters leads to some wonderfully offbeat interactions. Curtis does a masterful job with the dialogue throughout Celluloid as these disparate characters try to come together for the common good.
This is a story that I really enjoyed reading. The characters’ quirks were wonderful and I found the dialogue very amusing. Jimmy never misses the opportunity to drop in a movie reference in his quest to save The Crypt, stretch the boundaries of his world beyond Lion’s Hill Road, and maybe even fall in love. If you’re looking for a fun story with some light humor and great dialogue, look no further than Celluloid.
