Mount Terminus, by David Grand

I tried, I really did. I fell in love with the first few pages of this book, but then it gets bogged down and I'm embarrassed to say I couldn't get past 150 pages. It took me a long while to figure out that it's about the beginning of Hollywood, an oversight that's understandable given the crazy backstory we get at the start of the book. At first, I was charmed by Grand's lush writing, but the depression his character Rosenbloom wraps himself in seems to seep through the pages, and I could barely read five pages without my eyes drooping. I love the story, I really do, but there's very little dialogue and what little there is lacks quotation marks (perhaps this is a trait only of the Advanced Reader's Copy I have, I'll have to see whether they're added into the final version). There's just far too much description and not nearly enough plot to keep me interested in all 365 pages of the book. It's a true writer's book, meant for someone who spends their time and makes their living studying language and writing. I, alas, am not such a one, and I can only wish I had the patience to get through it.