Double Feature

by Owen King
412 pgs

My expectations for Double Feature were very high . . . unfairly high I guess.  Probably because of the gene pool Owen King emerged from, the same pool after all that produced his brother Joe Hill, I suppose I was expecting lightening to have struck the same family three times. I'm going to withhold final judgment on that until he's written a few more books though.

Sam Dolan grew up with a strong love of movies. The son of a modestly successful B-movie actor, Sam was raised to appreciate great film makers such as Orson Welles. When the story begins, Sam has written and is preparing to produce and direct his first movie, a small indie film called Who We Are. The first third of the book chronicles the making of the movie, from obtaining its funding, to casting it and filming it. I don't want to give too much away, but after the film is edited and ready to be seen, things get derailed and Sam's life and outlook on it are significantly changed.

The rest of the book is non-linear. It jumps around to different periods in Sam's life, repeatedly flashing between various periods of his childhood and then back to adulthood to see how the impact of those childhood experiences, and the disastrous experience with his film shaped his life.

There was a lot about this book that I really enjoyed. King is an obviously skilled and gifted author. He's got a unique sense of humor that takes a little getting used to in order to appreciate, but for me, it was what redeemed the book as a whole. My problem with the book was with Sam himself. He was such an unappealing and tiresome character. He was intolerable and dreary for the majority of the story and that took a toll on my enjoyment of it.  

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆