It is hard to summarize a sprawling and ambitious novel like this, so I won't—but it is expertly woven, its characters alive and full-bodied. Blending questions about pop culture, war, and art, Delayed Rays of a Star is that rare book that is neither high- nor low-brow, refusing such facile dichotomies and playing, instead, in the messiness of the grey areas.
Much of the known historical record weaves through Koe’s pages, which makes for an eclectic cast of secondary characters ... Koe handles conflicting female perspectives so well that, for many readers, gender may be her main point. Such a reading seems too limiting, though ... Koe’s characters are not merely different slices of America ... Ultimately, the novel’s greatest accomplishment is a masterful subversion of the Hollywood myth.
... encyclopedic in its detail and fit to bursting with invention ... marks an ambitious step forward as [Koe] concocts an expansive, criss-crossing narrative that somersaults back and forth in time ... While the [secondary characters'] misadventures tend to be less gripping than the exploits of the novel’s central trio, they all represent Koe’s central preoccupations with sexual identity, the crossing of political and personal boundaries, and how fate and blind chance intermix ... Immense in scope, peppered with conversational musings, and touched by melancholy ... Much like the divas she writes about, Koe’s novel struts flamboyantly all over the map, yet what lingers is the heartbreaking grandeur of her protagonists’ existences. Like the stars in Rilke’s poem, they have burned out, but their light persists, and Koe has fashioned a worthy tribute to their enduring impact.
Many of the novel’s most affecting scenes are of the women in old age ... The novel is sometimes overwritten, but Delayed Rays of a Star is a heartfelt tribute to extraordinary women who helped define modern cinema and a reminder that discrimination has always come in many guises.
Expansive and engaging ... Koe brings her well-known protagonists to life, and manages a sprawling story with panache. This has wide appeal for historical-fiction enthusiasts, film buffs, and readers looking for a WWII novel with a twist.
Koe’s flawless and enchanting writing draws readers directly into the lives and times of these women as well as the minor characters in this superb novel. Book discussion groups will enjoy devouring this fantastic debut.
Though the resulting portrait of their lives is rich with historical detail, the reader is rarely able to get any closer to the women than the photographer was on that fateful day ... Koe uses her careful lens to capture these women when their masks are dropped ... The set design and the cinematography of this cinematic novel are exquisitely drawn. Koe stuffs her novel to the gills with historical set pieces, some enchanting, some unsettling ... Koe deftly pans between distinct time periods and perspectives, zooming in on each woman three times throughout the narrative, always in a different order. Even without a linear through line, the novel picks you up and propels you forward as you root for each woman to succeed in chasing her dreams ... With her crisp, clean prose Koe has created a beautiful silver screen surface but gives the reader little access to what is going on inside the minds and hearts of her protagonists ... This emotional remove from the characters makes the romantic encounters less sexy, devoid of anticipation or foreplay ... It is Koe’s secondary characters, fictional yet representative of people forgotten to the annals of history, who act as foils to these impenetrable women and who truly shine, filing the book’s scenes with their light ... Yet even these more down to earth characters often seem as distant as stars in the sky ... If I wanted to know how the world saw these three stars, I would have picked up a history book. I picked up a novel because I wanted to imagine the pieces of them lost to history, to witness their doubts and desires, confusions and frustrations, to see them set free.
Giving readers a lot to think about, while writing an entertaining, episodic narrative is precisely what Amanda Lee Koe has done in her marvelous debut novel ... It is clear from the episodes and set pieces that [Koe] has read a lot of background material, absorbed what she has read, and selected both major and minor incidents to fictionalize, usually by adding an array of diverse and wildly interesting characters ... Like a film camera changing its focus and frame, Koe is able to draw together a rich array of characters within a historical framework created with a dense tapestry of details and feelings ... Koe understands her subjects — their vanities and vulnerabilities — well enough to invent scenes that are simultaneously believable and fantastical. This is what makes the book riveting ... My only quibble with the book is that I thought Koe could have built upon some real-life incidents rather than changing them ... the strongest debut novel I have read in a very, very long time. Like the figures she writes about, Koe will soon become a star.
... ambitious and well-researched ... successfully melds historical fact with expansive and generous storytelling ... The book’s most emotionally resonant sections often come from the stories of tangential characters ... Very occasionally, the inclusion of the famous characters’ biographies reads like a Wikipedia entry; more often, however, the details of each woman’s life and work are fully integrated into an exploration of her inner life. Throughout, their stories contend with the notion of authenticity in life and art—of how performers define themselves in the public sphere and behind closed doors. Readers will find much to ponder in these vivid, fictionalized deep dives into three women who changed cinema.
For a novel so dense with historical fact and larger-than-life celebrity cameos (everyone from John F. Kennedy to Walter Benjamin to David Bowie), its portrayals are nuanced enough that each character comes off as deeply human regardless of their fame or importance to the novel’s plot ... It’s the steady accumulation of intimate details like these that creates a sweeping sense of history that feels truly alive ... Expansive, complex, and utterly engrossing.
