Allie's Reviews > Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Considering that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my favorite film, and Quentin Tarantino is my favorite film maker, I was very very excited for this book to be released. I bought it the day it came out, started it right away… and was disappointed by the end of the second chapter.

My main issue with this is the amount of information that is given, most of it being useless.
There are multiple chapters about characters within the show Lancer… characters who are not real within this universe. I was confused on why this mattered, given it contributes absolutely nothing to the plot.
Also we learn the backstory to Roman Polanski’s film Rosemary’s Baby, which also gives nothing to the story. I understand Tarantino finds this interesting, but I do not, given that I read this novel for a tale of a struggling actor in the 1960’s, not a collection of fun facts surrounding figures of Old Hollywood.

The novel starts with Rick Dalton having a conversation with agent Marvin Schwarz. The chapter goes on for twenty four pages, and is mainly just Rick explaining all of the films and television shows he has done, along with people he has met. Now to a certain extent, this is interesting. It gives some backstory to Rick (which is something that I was really looking forward to in this novel, and was not given), but after ten pages of references to various figures and movies from the 1960’s that most people have never even heard of, it gets a little old.

Then the second chapter happens, which I hated even worse than the first one. This chapter is almost entirely the character Cliff’s opinions on film, which I assume is just a self-insert for Tarantino himself. For about twenty pages, we have to read about foreign films from the 60’s. Sorry, but if I had wanted to read about Japanese film exports, I would have found a nonfiction book about them, not a novel.
And yes, I know the movie, and by extension, this novel, is a love letter to Old Hollywood. But must I read page after page about a fictional character’s opinion on films that has absolutely nothing to do with the plot?

And on the topic of Cliff’s character… it is horrible. I have seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood many times, and the Cliff there is not the same in this novel. He is misogynistic, only caring about having sex with women. He is racist (the whole Bruce Lee scene), and homophobic (he uses the f slur three times in one page). He pursues Pussycat, even though he admits that he does not know how old she is, but believes she is under eighteen. He is a war hero, but only uses that status when it lets him get away with murder (this literally happens twice). He also fights dogs and considers becoming a pimp. And why am I supposed to like this character? Although Tarantino tries to make him a ‘cool guy’ by giving him a backstory that portrays him as someone who is untouchable, (all I wanted was a backstory for Rick and got nothing, but we must hear about Cliff’s killing of Japanese soldiers on multiple occasions) he has pretty much no redeeming qualities, and is a far cry from the man who was in the film.

Continuing on with characters, it seemed that I was supposed to sympathize with Charles Manson. Right after a chapter which brutally accounts Cliff’s gruesome, cold blooded murder of his wife, whom he pretty much says deserved it because she was a bitch, we get a chapter about how poor, pitiful ‘Charlie’ just wants to be a rock star and is sad after he gets stood up by a representative of a recording label. I’m not sure what Tarantino’s intentions were here. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him? In no universe will I ever give that man sympathy, and I’m not sure why Tarantino would even try to evoke that from his readers.
I will say, I enjoyed learning more about the Manson Family, within this universe, but not all of it. Pussycat’s story was uncomfortable. The amount of sexualization of a girl who we never learn if she is even legal or not was not something I enjoyed reading. (We do hear about her having sex with older men when she is 14, so there’s that).

On to positives.
Rick Dalton. For the most part, I really enjoyed all of the chapters which primarily featured him. His role in the film is one of my favorite characters of all time, so I was happy he was not given the Cliff Booth treatment and absolutely destroyed. I found his interactions with Trudi to be sweet and enjoyable to read.

Another positive for me is Sharon Tate, minus the fact she was, like the movie, barely in this novel. The scene, which mirrors the one in the film, where she goes to the theater to watch her own movie, was by FAR by favorite. Sharon’s inner dialogue is so charming, like she was in real life, and makes you root for her. If you didn’t love her before, reading this scene will do it. (Also the chapter with her hitchhiking to LA was enjoyable, minus some creepy comments about her body)
Something I, as a fan of Sharon, did not appreciate about her was when she was treated almost like a pawn between her husband Roman and Steve McQueen. This was just a small section, not even a full page, but it stuck with me. Sleeping with her was brought up, like it was a competition between the two men. I honestly found this disgusting and disrespectful. Sharon was, and is still, more than just someone that was slept with, and I find it disturbing that it is suggested otherwise.

In conclusion, this book disappointed me. I had such high expectations, and this novel reached none of them. I struggled to finish this. Tarantino makes excellent films, and I’m sorry to say, but maybe he should just stick to what he’s good at.

I would just skip this and watch the film instead.