I was immediately attracted to this book for my book club because I love Movies and find the history of movie making fascinating. The response was mixed. About a third said they found it hard to read and couldn't finish it mostly because of the author going off the main characters to focus on a supporting character. Many said his writing was very good but he needed a good editor. I personally did find the development of the lesser characters enjoyable but agree that the book was hard to read. After our discussion some said that they would go back and try to finish the book. We used the questions in the readers guide for our discussion and I found the discussion on this website very helpful. I gave 4 stars as there were people who loved it and I liked it.