Back at the farmhouse the faces are all too familiar: his producer's beautiful, alcoholic daughter, a recently fired C.A.A. agent, and a U.S.C. film student who is there to document Emery's breakdown. As if nature itself has gone awry, the nearby lake is infested with snapping turtles, moving one outraged casualty of the industry to begin constructing that essential Hollywood real estate accessory, a backyard pool.
Larger than life on the screen, in person Emery is a void. And yet as the novel progresses from one hilariously cruel scene to the next, we see that this isn't simply a pose, but the only way he can protect himself from the valueless landscape and the emptiness of celebrity.
"A faultlessly crafted, beautifully constructed, Beckett-in-a-hot-tub, Noel-Coward-on-ludes, Hunter-Thompson-with-an-editor novel."--The Washington Post Book World
"Mad scientist Ajay Saghal has set out to test the validity of the proposition that nature abhors a vacuum by sending movie star Emery Roberts to rustic Vermont.... As a group portrait of young Hollywood, Pool is absolutely convincing and authentic. Sahgal knows the tribal language and rituals--the cigarette after the gym, the vanity production company, the agentspeak. And in Emery Roberts he has given us a pure portrait of the pop idol as empty vessel."--Jay McInerney
"Crisp, spare, cruel, Pool finally shows us Hollywood stripped of its trappings. Take note of Ajay Sahgal."--Jill Eisenstadt
"I'll never look at a movie star in exactly the same way. Plus this book is so mean and wild it really cheers you up. Mesmerizing."--Eve Babitz
"Hot, humid, mosquitoey, boozy, hopeless, and utterly convincing. Screenwriter Sahgal's fiction debut is a strikingly nihilistic tale told with viperfish humor, biting dialogue, and a perfect sense of timing."--Booklist
"Pool is one of the most authentic Los Angeles novels you are likely to read...compelling, thanks to Ajay Sahgal's spare, cryptic prose...[and] chock-full of wickedly funny bits."--Los Angeles Times
Ajay Sahgal is a novelist and screenwriter who recently completed directing his first feature film, It's a Shame About Ray. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Emmy-award winning actress Kelli Williams, and their son.
'Mad scientist Ajay Sahgal has set out to test the validity of the proposition that nature abhors a vacuum by sending movie star Emery Roberts, to rustic Vermont...As a group portrait of young Hollywood, Pool is absolutely convincing and authentic. Sahgal knows the tribal language and rituals--the cigarette after the gym, the vanity production company, the agentspeak. And in Emery Roberts he has given us a pure portrait of the pop idol as empty vessel.'