The Wind Through the Keyhole

3.5 stars rounded up to 5. I was a bit let down by this book - it's certainly well-researched but I felt it dwelled excessively on Arthur Laurent and the ins and outs of his life and career more than it focused on the movie and its challenges. I enjoyed learning about how both Streisand and Redford approached the narrative, how Pollack struggled to keep all the pieces moving in the right direction, and how Ray Stark fit into the picture but sometimes the data Hofler had gathered about Laurent felt forced into the novel rather than flowing organically. This is one of my favorite romance stories and it was fascinating to hear the behind-the-scenes machinations that went into crucial scenes, lines that were dropped, sub-plots that got left on the cutting room floor. The insight into how a film gets edited and changed during production and even afterwards, makes this an interesting read for cinema buffs but again, I wished more time had been spent on the actual movie than Laurent who lived a fascinating life but ultimately came off as an egotist who harmed more than helped the making of this classic film.

Many thanks to Net Galley for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy