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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Barely any
No significant violence
Language
Some
Profanity and morally charged dialogue; adult language throughout
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit sexual relationships; prostitution and kept-woman arrangements; a relationship with a call girl is central
Substance Use
Some
Heavy drinking throughout; the resort milieu involves constant alcohol consumption
Emotional Intensity
Some
Moral and artistic corruption as central themes; Hollywood as a machine that destroys integrity
What this book is about
Sergius O'Shaugnessy, a young ex-Air Force pilot, arrives in Desert D'Or, a fictional Palm Springs-like resort favored by film industry elites. He watches director Charles Eitel buckle under McCarthyite pressure, befriends a kept woman, and loses his innocence to the moral corruption of the entertainment industry. Mailer's most polished early novel is a study of artistic compromise, sexual commerce, and the American power structure's capacity to destroy integrity.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Sexual content and prostitution
McCarthyism and political coercion
Artistic compromise as moral failure
Reader Verification
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