Quick, fresh, bitchy and laugh-out-loud funny, Hensley's new novel, "Misadventures in the (213)," is a summer must-read for pop-culture obsessive consumers of Entertainment Weekly, tabloids, and E!'s "The Gossip Show." Be forewarned: If you don't read/watch reports from Janet Charlton and A.J. Benza, you're going to miss some of the star-gazing jokes.
At the eye of the tornado is Dandy Rio, star of the sitcom "That's Dandy," on which, in true Spelling-style, she plays a perky teen despite not having been one for years. Hensley paints Dandy as a zany madcap attracting trouble like flies to sewage, the kind of ADD-beset starlet who changes obsessions (boyfriends, a husband, being a rock star) as often as she changes miniskirts - she's a frozen margarita of Tea Leoni, Drew Barrymore and Edie Sedgwick. Along for the ride is narrator Craig Clybourn, Dandy's college buddy and a cruise-ship-director-turned-aspiring-screenwriter, who bides his time as a temp while serving as a (usually) willing accomplice to Dandy's hair-brained schemes, such as stealing fish from Tina Louise's pond.
The fictional pair move among real-life major and minor Hollywood celebs, but don't be fooled by the back cover's laundry list of special guest stars, ranging from Willie Aames to Madonna, Kerry Strug to Quentin Tarantino, and every variety of actor, director, rock star, country diva, game-show host and Hollywood oddity in the L.A. phone book. The cameos usually consist of a conversational name drop, but there are hilarious moments when the stars do pop up in the characters' lives, like when Dandy goes on "Politically Incorrect," along with Dick Clark, Camille Paglia and Daryl Gates, all because she wants to sleep with Bill Maher. Or when she wrecks her Miata while ogling a billboard of Antonio Sabato Jr., and receives condolences from the likes of Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Ben Vereen, Brooke Shields and the cast of "Living Single."
Hensley may be trying to drive home - in a convertible Mercedes, no less - a message like the one in Dionne Warwick's "That's What Friends Are For." In truth, this is just a deliciously sweet sip of summer fun, meant to be devoured, enjoyed, then disposed of like a sticky Slurpee cup.
(Shelly Ridenour)
- Misadventures in the (213)
copyright 1998 New City Communications, Inc.