2024 the best memoirs of all time review

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(as of Dec 02, 2024 12:57:10 UTC - Details)

The instant New York Times bestseller!

“Warm and perceptive.”—New York Times

“Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story."—Washington Post

"Dunne is a prospector for the incandescent detail.”—Los Angeles Times

“What a remarkable and moving story filled with twists and turns, the most famous of faces, and a complex family revealed with loving candor. I was blown away by Griffin Dunne’s life and his ability to capture so much of it in these beautifully written pages.”—Anderson Cooper

Griffin Dunne’s memoir of growing up among larger-than-life characters in Hollywood and Manhattan finds wicked humor and glimmers of light in even the most painful of circumstances

At eight, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good. In his early twenties, he shared an apartment in Manhattan’s Hotel Des Artistes with his best friend and soulmate Carrie Fisher while she was filming some sci-fi movie called Star Wars and he was a struggling actor working as a popcorn concessionaire at Radio City Music Hall. A few years later, he produced and starred in the now-iconic film After Hours, directed by Martin Scorsese. In the midst of it all, Griffin’s twenty-two-year-old sister, Dominique, a rising star in Hollywood, was brutally strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, leading to one of the most infamous public trials of the 1980s. The outcome was a travesty of justice that marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne’s career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair and a victims' rights activist.

And yet, for all its boldface cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no mere celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny, and moving characters—its author most of all.

Reviewer: carilynp
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An exceptional celebrity memoir told by a true raconteur.
Review: This is no mere celebrity memoir. Sure, the author is famous, yes, his parents were as well, and he’s the nephew of the late literary ‘it’ girl. All of those things are wonderful, indeed, but what makes this book so special is it’s told by a true raconteur (I knew he could act but clearly, he inherited the writing gene), recounting intimate anecdotes, some tragic, never losing his sense of humor, gratitude, and love for family and friends.Griffin’s family history is fascinating. Made up of his once LA power couple parents Dominick and Lenny, literary luminaries aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Dunne, and his maternal and fraternal grandparents had their own tales to wow. In case you haven’t read any of his father, aunt, or uncle’s books or Vanity Fair articles, suffice it to say, he’s endured more than his share of interesting and heartbreaking events. Griffin grew up in Beverly Hills at a time when parties were parties (the Dunnes hosted many with guests such as Sean Connery, Natalie Wood), his mother was glamorous, well-loved, his brother battled mental illness, his sister Dominique, a budding actress, strangled to death by her boyfriend. Their lives forever changed. Dominick hit hard times before he made a comeback covering true crime of the wealthy set (beginning with the trial of the man who murdered his daughter) and became Tina Brown’s darling (a regular in court during the O.J. trial). Like many families, there is pain and dysfunction. Growing up together, his friendship with Carrie Fisher seemed genuine and fun loving. Their inside jokes, both on the cusp of stardom, you can practically hear their laughter and imagine the mischief they got into.​From west coast to east coast, through ups and downs, childhood antics to faithfully attending the murder trial while shooting a film in the evenings to going on to producing and directing, this is a succinctly captured time capsule told by a kind, witty soul, as he shares his beloved family with us.

Reviewer: Kris R. Godlewsky
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Enjoyable insight into the Dunne family.
Review: I have been a fan of both Dominick and Griffin Dunne for many years so I was excited to see that Griffin would take us on a ride through his family’s story. The book is well-written and provides just the necessary insight to appreciate the journey of this family.

Reviewer: Kcor
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Best book I’ve read in 2024
Review: I bought this after finishing a lousy book. I was trying to fill in a reading gap until I found a truly good book. I wasn’t expecting much, but I like memoirs, so this was it. Wow. It has everything. Crisp, well-written, well edited. The amazing lives and stories of this family make you laugh out loud and cry. You can feel all the emotion and never lose interest. Couldn’t put it down.

Reviewer: Rn49127
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A must read
Review: I really liked this book it was so well written what an interesting life he led

Reviewer: Calista S.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Easy read, but sloppy factually
Review: This memoir is very readable, much like the Vanity Fair articles written by the author’s late father, writer Dominick Dunne. Unfortunately, it desperately needed a good editor and fact checker. There is no explanation as to why it is entitled “The Friday Afternoon Book Club”, and several of the second-hand anecdotes about the author’s father are easily proven inaccurate by simply reading Vanity Fair articles written by the father himself, which are readily available online, or the father’s own memoir. This book contains dozens of references to the author’s friend, Charlie, but never discloses Charlie’s last name. Then the book stops fairly abruptly after the author married and became a father some 35 years ago. The deaths of his parents and famous aunt and uncle feel like a postscript. As someone who has read extensively about many of the main people in the author’s life, I feel that this book barely skimmed the surface. So much of his story has already been more accurately told by Dominick Dunne and Joan Didion that I’m not sure what the author hoped to add in this sloppy memoir.

Reviewer: Julia Felix
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fascinating read
Review: Griffin Dunne is a good writer and has led an interesting life. The book starts out slow, talking about his grandparents. Once he gets into his own life and family the book is much more interesting. Even though there are laugh-out-loud sections, ultimately, this is a rather sad book, describing a dysfunctional family that experienced a major tragedy and the impact it had on them.

Reviewer: Lisa
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great read!
Review: Griffin Dunne is even more talented than his late father was. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir was an enjoyable, and sometimes sad memoir of a typically dysfunctional, but very loving American family.

Reviewer: Scott Raybern
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Awesome read.
Review: I never knew that any of this happened! I grew up loving American Werewolf of London. I appreciate the author letting me into this narrative of his life. I feel deep empathy for his struggle.

Reviewer: JJDahe
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Funny, sad at times, but every bit well written…Griffin is a great story Teller. Ever since “on writing” I had not found such na entertaining and well written book. Til today, that is.Now Back to reading it - top Three books of 2024, easily.

Reviewer: Trevor Street
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I laughed,cried and occasionally gasped in astonishment. The last page gutted me with joy and sadness as it also meant it was finished. An absolutely beautifully written and heartfelt memoir.

Reviewer: Marlow
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Unas memorias llenas de humor, pese a la tragedia familiar que vertebra el relato. Se halla repleta de jugosas anécdotas y personajes fascinantes. Una obra de apariencia ligera que en muchos momentos emociona. Merece leerse.

Reviewer: Tony C (London)
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Beautifully written, very funny at times, and very grim at other times. It may be that I enjoyed it because I was familiar with the cast of characters - I've read books by Joan Didion (his Aunt), I've seen some of his films (he produced and starred in After Hours). Whatever the case, I loved the book and it was a quick read.Perhaps check if a Hollywood memoir would appeal to you (although not all of it takes place in LA and it's not your typical Hollywood memoir). Highly recommended!

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A brilliant piece of exposure of the soul of this s "modern family" . Never heard of them, never forget them.