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The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Memoir (2024)At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion's legendary L.A. party for the publication of Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. In his early 20s, 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 seller 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 22-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, which ended in a travesty of justice that also somehow marked the beginning of their father Dominick Dunne's career as a bestselling author of true crime narratives.And yet, for all its bold-face cast of characters and jaw-dropping scenes, The Friday Afternoon Club is no celebrity memoir. It is, down to its bones, a family story that brilliantly embraces the poignant absurdities and best and worst efforts of its loveable, infuriating, funny and moving characters - its author most of all - finding wicked, self-deprecating humour and glints of surprising light in even the most harrowing and painful of circumstances.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
3337 people are currently reading
43335 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,385 reviews
December 11, 2023
Griffin Dunne’s memoir would have been excellent even if it were merely celebrity run-ins and Hollywood-adjacent tales — the Carrie Fisher anecdotes alone are worth the cover price. But The Friday Afternoon Club succeeds far beyond entertaining name-dropping. This is a memoir of a complicated and loving family dealing with all manner of significant traumas: mental illness, addiction, a closeted father, family rivalries, and — most significantly — a senseless murder and the subsequent trial. Like many, I felt like I already knew the Dunne family a little bit through Dominick Dunne’s and Joan Didion’s writings; I’m thrilled to now have Griffin’s point-of-view as well.
Want to read
January 9, 2025what WOULDN'T i read about joan didion
August 6, 2024
Besides this book being interesting just for all the inside Hollywood tea alone, it managed to venture beyond that and slowly turned into a tender and honest portrayal of an ambitious family dealing with illness, shame, secrets and the tragic loss of the youngest Dunne sibling, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. He was released from prison after a mere 2.5 years. It hurt to read this perspective from the family left behind, torn apart by femicide, a term that probably wasn’t broadly used back then yet. I was biting my nails in frustration when Dunne relayed all that transpired in the courtroom and shocked how the justice system so utterly failed Dominique and her family.
Joan Didion, Dunne’s aunt through marriage, definitely fell off her pedestal for me. Once again this memoir was a brutal reminder that great artists are rarely kind people.
All events transpiring after the trial felt a little rushed - I wish I could read more about Dunne growing up into the man he is and how he built the career he has. Plus: no mention of Practical Magic, which I was heartbroken about. I definitely could have done without the boyish boasting about his (unbelievable) sexual encounters as well (the hitchhiking story?? Like even if this were true why would you feel the need to come off as an utter dickhead by sharing that).
Other than that, I was deeply moved by his writing, his honest and yet loving portrayal of his family members and thoroughly enjoyed all the anekdotes about people like Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote, Carrie Fisher and many other big Hollywood names.
Joan Didion, Dunne’s aunt through marriage, definitely fell off her pedestal for me. Once again this memoir was a brutal reminder that great artists are rarely kind people.
All events transpiring after the trial felt a little rushed - I wish I could read more about Dunne growing up into the man he is and how he built the career he has. Plus: no mention of Practical Magic, which I was heartbroken about. I definitely could have done without the boyish boasting about his (unbelievable) sexual encounters as well (the hitchhiking story?? Like even if this were true why would you feel the need to come off as an utter dickhead by sharing that).
Other than that, I was deeply moved by his writing, his honest and yet loving portrayal of his family members and thoroughly enjoyed all the anekdotes about people like Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote, Carrie Fisher and many other big Hollywood names.
August 18, 2024
I read this book because long ago I dated someone from a famous family and Dominick Dunne was their neighbor in Connecticut. They had him over to lunch once while I was there and I had no idea who he was. He was absolutely outraged. After reading this book, I understand why. This book is a portrait of an utterly shallow and extremely unpleasant family. Their moderate talents pale in comparison to the true talent, sister in law Joan Didion, who they resent and disparage. The name dropping in this book is so extreme that it continues even on the walk to see the authors sister who is on life support! The pride that there are paparazzi at her funeral is palpable. The only authenticity in this book is how authentically vapid and shallow these people are.
June 25, 2024
This has all the markings of a celebrity memoir without ever feeling like a celebrity memoir. Harrison Ford builds Joan Didion’s deck, Sean Connery saves a drowning child, Carrie Fisher’s virginity is a topic for discussion, Martin Scorsese forbids actors from having sex. It’s all delicious and outlandish and funny. But what this book is actually about – MS, violence against women, self sabotage, mental illness – is so much heavier that it grounds everything in a truth and a sense of realness. There is gravitas here and Dunne does a brilliant job holding the narrative. He has such a gentle touch and I challenge you not to fall in love with him.
March 17, 2025
This family was surrounded by scandal and wealth and center-stage attention, whether they chose it or not. And, this is the story of that very privileged upbringing.
There is a lot of name-dropping in this book, because this family is rather well-known in their own way. Griffin’s aunt by marriage is author, Joan Didion. Joan’s husband, was the writer, John Gregory Dunne, who was Dominick’s brother. Dominick, being Griffin’s father. Dominick was in the movie business, which allowed Griffin to be “raised in the land of make-believe” before he became a part of it himself. Mostly, we also learn about the secrets of Dominick that also influence Griffin, too. His mother, Ellen was an heiress who was friends with the actress Natalie Wood.
Griffin would later be rocked by the strangling death at age 22, by her ex-boyfriend, of his sister Dominque, an actress.
The Friday Afternoon Club is titled after a carefree regular gathering that his father hosted that included a young, George Clooney. Of course, throughout the book, we find many more named characters we will recognize, like Carrie Fisher, or Tennessee Williams, or Martin Scorsese, or eventual Bewitched star, Elizabeth Montgomery, who was Griffin’s babysitter.
There is a fragility to Griffin’s true character that is felt throughout the pages, even as we are immersed in the privilege and scandal of the times.
His writing is honest, funny and smart, even sad, at times. And, he doesn’t mind laughing at himself, which makes this an easy-to-read memoir. Of course, it helps if you know all the names that are dropped throughout the book. It almost makes you feel like you are an insider, for a moment.
There is a lot of name-dropping in this book, because this family is rather well-known in their own way. Griffin’s aunt by marriage is author, Joan Didion. Joan’s husband, was the writer, John Gregory Dunne, who was Dominick’s brother. Dominick, being Griffin’s father. Dominick was in the movie business, which allowed Griffin to be “raised in the land of make-believe” before he became a part of it himself. Mostly, we also learn about the secrets of Dominick that also influence Griffin, too. His mother, Ellen was an heiress who was friends with the actress Natalie Wood.
Griffin would later be rocked by the strangling death at age 22, by her ex-boyfriend, of his sister Dominque, an actress.
The Friday Afternoon Club is titled after a carefree regular gathering that his father hosted that included a young, George Clooney. Of course, throughout the book, we find many more named characters we will recognize, like Carrie Fisher, or Tennessee Williams, or Martin Scorsese, or eventual Bewitched star, Elizabeth Montgomery, who was Griffin’s babysitter.
There is a fragility to Griffin’s true character that is felt throughout the pages, even as we are immersed in the privilege and scandal of the times.
His writing is honest, funny and smart, even sad, at times. And, he doesn’t mind laughing at himself, which makes this an easy-to-read memoir. Of course, it helps if you know all the names that are dropped throughout the book. It almost makes you feel like you are an insider, for a moment.
December 24, 2025
The Friday Afternoon Club is Griffin Dunne’s memoir of growing up with famous parents and their famous friends and all the shenanigans he got into. The blurb says it’s not a celebrity memoir, but there is an awful lot of name dropping. Which can’t be helped in a family that includes Dominick, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. Still, I found it interesting and there were numerous times I was just shaking my head.
Griffin is open about his personal foibles. He’s often egotistical, thinking first of himself before his friends. Yet, when given the chance, he refuses to throw a high school friend under the bus. He struggles with his early lack of success.
But at the heart of the story was the brutal death of his 22 year old sister, Dominique and the trial that ended when her ex-boyfriend was only convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Those of you who know of his father, Dominick, know this is what caused him to turn to true crime writing.
This was a mostly entertaining story, although at times very poignant, and made for an excellent audio experience as the author narrates his own book.
Griffin is open about his personal foibles. He’s often egotistical, thinking first of himself before his friends. Yet, when given the chance, he refuses to throw a high school friend under the bus. He struggles with his early lack of success.
But at the heart of the story was the brutal death of his 22 year old sister, Dominique and the trial that ended when her ex-boyfriend was only convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Those of you who know of his father, Dominick, know this is what caused him to turn to true crime writing.
This was a mostly entertaining story, although at times very poignant, and made for an excellent audio experience as the author narrates his own book.
July 7, 2024
I could not put this down - Griffin Dunne has had such a rich life and his writing style was good, it was like sitting around a dinner table listening to his stories. That last line got me.
January 6, 2024
Dunne has lived quite a life with a loving and dysfunctional family. I recall the brutal murder of his sister, Dominique. I knew of his father’s sexuality and read many of his novels. I was aware that John Gregory Dunne was his uncle and that Joan Didion was his aunt. I even, vaguely, remember seeing American Werewolf in London at a movie theater. It was funny in 1981 but I doubt that it would hold up well. Despite Dunne’s courage in revealing his story, it is his story rather than a family memoir. It is an engaging account and a quick read.
August 13, 2024
an excellent addition to the Tina Brown Vanity Fair Diaries Extended Universe
June 15, 2024
Here’s what you can be assured of: Every bit of this book is true.
There’s no added sugar.
Griffin Dunne could NOT make this sh*t up.
He describes his family as the ones who were drunk, killed themselves, had mental illness or got murdered.
That is a true assessment.
I take him to task for the way he seems to expose his father. Some of that could have stayed in the archives. I mean I’m straight from the Vanity Fair era and Dominick Dunne has my heart forever.
I’m off now to read up on Carrie Fisher, John Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion ( I had no idea) and Griffin, himself, so I can get the rest of the story.
*also, since the publishing of a memoir is transactional (in which money changes hands) I have no qualms about slapping a star rating on one. My star rating isn’t personal to the author. It’s a reflection on how the story moves ME and how I receive it. Griffin was paid and he deserves to know what I think about the presentation of his story.
There’s no added sugar.
Griffin Dunne could NOT make this sh*t up.
He describes his family as the ones who were drunk, killed themselves, had mental illness or got murdered.
That is a true assessment.
I take him to task for the way he seems to expose his father. Some of that could have stayed in the archives. I mean I’m straight from the Vanity Fair era and Dominick Dunne has my heart forever.
I’m off now to read up on Carrie Fisher, John Dunne and his wife, Joan Didion ( I had no idea) and Griffin, himself, so I can get the rest of the story.
*also, since the publishing of a memoir is transactional (in which money changes hands) I have no qualms about slapping a star rating on one. My star rating isn’t personal to the author. It’s a reflection on how the story moves ME and how I receive it. Griffin was paid and he deserves to know what I think about the presentation of his story.
July 18, 2024
came for the joan didion stories, should have left at the graphic descriptions of preteen masturbation. i listened to this on 2.5x speed just to get it over with. also the writing was bad. sorry!
August 28, 2024
I didn’t care for this at all. Griffin Dunne is the perfect example of someone who absolutely shouldn’t be able to publish a memoir, but can, simply because his family is filthy stinking rich. And believe me when I say there’s nothing special about Griffin Dunne, in and of himself; he actually sort of embodies everything I hate about the children of Hollywood’s ostentatious upper crust, who grow up in Beverly Hills but move to New York to become a writer or actor (how original), pretending to live the life of a starving, struggling artist, and generally just slumming it as best they can, even though a few thousand dollars or a nepo gig from Mommy and Daddy is a phone call away. It made my skin crawl, for instance, when he described his neighbors in the East Village, stating, “These were the very characters I passed on the street every day, extras in the movie of my life about a kid who left the comforts of Beverly Hills to be among the hardscrabble of New York.” Oh, shut the fuck UP, Griffin Dunne. Can someone get any more obliviously insensitive and narcissistic than that?
Also, only someone who grew up in a family as loaded as Dunnes can afford (literally and figuratively) to drop out of private school without earning his high school diploma and still land on his feet. I got the sense that Dunne wanted the reader to regard him as a sort of devil may care, Holden Caulfield, you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do character for this, but I just thought he was kind of pathetic. What a waste of his parents’ wealth, and of his own privilege. He’s almost forcibly blasé and rather glib about growing up surrounded by celebrities, and even tries to chide his Dad for being so obsessed with having friends in high places, but it all falls flat on its face; you can tell Dunne, like his father, relishes in name-dropping, and in having spent his adolescence and youth basking in the sunshiny glory of Hollywood’s elite. I didn’t find his supposedly premature sexual prowess even remotely interesting, least of all the anecdote about him taking Carrie Fisher’s virginity. I also couldn’t care less about his career as an actor/producer. Generally, throughout the book, he remains blissfully unaware of how much of a vapid blowhard he comes off as.
I thought I would enjoy Dunne’s memoir because I liked the documentary he made about Joan Didion so much. But not even Dunne being Didion’s nephew saves this book. The only thing that might is the fact that his sister was brutally murdered and that her murderer’s trial was a serious miscarriage of justice. I would’ve liked a memoir that was just about his experience of dealing with Dominique Dunne’s death a lot better, actually. But this was an utter waste of my $30 Barnes & Noble birthday gift card.
Also, only someone who grew up in a family as loaded as Dunnes can afford (literally and figuratively) to drop out of private school without earning his high school diploma and still land on his feet. I got the sense that Dunne wanted the reader to regard him as a sort of devil may care, Holden Caulfield, you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do character for this, but I just thought he was kind of pathetic. What a waste of his parents’ wealth, and of his own privilege. He’s almost forcibly blasé and rather glib about growing up surrounded by celebrities, and even tries to chide his Dad for being so obsessed with having friends in high places, but it all falls flat on its face; you can tell Dunne, like his father, relishes in name-dropping, and in having spent his adolescence and youth basking in the sunshiny glory of Hollywood’s elite. I didn’t find his supposedly premature sexual prowess even remotely interesting, least of all the anecdote about him taking Carrie Fisher’s virginity. I also couldn’t care less about his career as an actor/producer. Generally, throughout the book, he remains blissfully unaware of how much of a vapid blowhard he comes off as.
I thought I would enjoy Dunne’s memoir because I liked the documentary he made about Joan Didion so much. But not even Dunne being Didion’s nephew saves this book. The only thing that might is the fact that his sister was brutally murdered and that her murderer’s trial was a serious miscarriage of justice. I would’ve liked a memoir that was just about his experience of dealing with Dominique Dunne’s death a lot better, actually. But this was an utter waste of my $30 Barnes & Noble birthday gift card.
December 28, 2024
the friday afternoon club: a family memoir details dunne’s experience of growing up amidst hollywood celebrities, along with a moving story about a dysfunctional family navigating decades of trauma.
June 25, 2024
It felt a little like I was reading Forest Gump’s life story because every major event during this era had involvement from him or his family! He admits he’s a narcissist and he embellishes. And that’s obvious. I don’t know if I recommend it, but I’m glad I read it.
October 29, 2024
Read in his own voice, this generous memoir follows a life and brings a family to life sometimes with searing intimacy. Having read other first person accounts of the Dunne family's pain with regard to the slap-on-the-wrist handed down to his beloved sister's murderer, it was nonetheless painful hearing it from his point of view. Her loss is all the more poignant when learning of his introduction to her when her birth seemed a miracle, even more painful when reminded of the promise she showed was so cruelly cut short. It makes the pain he shows in his character in This is Us even more pertinent.
September 18, 2024
I picked this memoir up not because I knew anything about Griffin Dunne, but because I was obsessed with his father, Dominick Dunne's books as well as fascinated by the shocking murder of his sister, Dominique who rose to fame in the movie Poltergeist. The title itself is an homage to her as she had such a club of friends who met every Friday afternoon for drinks and talk.
But what I discovered is that The Friday Afternoon Club is so much more than a memoir. It starts with Dunne's parents Dominick and Lenny (Ellen) and takes the reader not only their journey through being rich to Dominick's fall from grace to Lenny's battle with MS to the lead up to the death of Dominique as well as the heartbreaking trial which left the family angry and stunned.
But the most amazing part of this book is the stories...every page is filled with incredible tales which include many, many 1960's and 1970's movie stars. Also included are stories about the family, his brother Alex's breakdowns, his father's drinking and his wife divorcing him. His sisters short-lived life and how everybody loved her wit and charm, but nobody knew what was happening to her at the end of her life.
Griffin Dunne's life journey is filled with so many stories, such as how Sean Connery saved his life from drowning in their pool, to story after story about his best friend Carrie Fischer who he loved, adored and spoke to the day she got on the plane in which she died.
He tells stories of his Uncle John an acclaimed writer and his father becoming estranged until one day when they met at their cardiologist's office neither knowing they went there. John, who was married to the profound writer, Joan Didion would play an important part in Dunne's upbringing, and Didion and his uncle would be in his life until their deaths, with Dunne actually doing a documentary on Didion.
The book goes into the dark place of death with Dominique's murder and actually opens with the scene of a police officer coming to Lenny's house to tell her of her daughter's injuries and being transported to the hospital. In great detail, Dunne goes into what they believe happened to her and the abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. As Dunne points out when you wanted to tell someone a secret, Dominique was the one to go to, but in the end, she died with no one knowing what she had been going through.
As for the trial, the boyfriend was made to look like a saint, and the outcome shockingly horrifying for the family. And this was actually the impetus which broke Dominick and John's relationship.
With all this said, there are many, many funny stories as well as interesting tidbits of Griffin's life and trying to succeed as an actor and producer and his innocence and how his life was changed in so many ways by being the son/nephew/brother of a prominent, but dysfunctional family.
The Friday Afternoon Club is a fascinating read, one of the best memoirs I believe I have ever read. You can actually feel the pain, the sorrow, the joy and the crazy in his magnificent writing.
Published by Penguin Press
But what I discovered is that The Friday Afternoon Club is so much more than a memoir. It starts with Dunne's parents Dominick and Lenny (Ellen) and takes the reader not only their journey through being rich to Dominick's fall from grace to Lenny's battle with MS to the lead up to the death of Dominique as well as the heartbreaking trial which left the family angry and stunned.
But the most amazing part of this book is the stories...every page is filled with incredible tales which include many, many 1960's and 1970's movie stars. Also included are stories about the family, his brother Alex's breakdowns, his father's drinking and his wife divorcing him. His sisters short-lived life and how everybody loved her wit and charm, but nobody knew what was happening to her at the end of her life.
Griffin Dunne's life journey is filled with so many stories, such as how Sean Connery saved his life from drowning in their pool, to story after story about his best friend Carrie Fischer who he loved, adored and spoke to the day she got on the plane in which she died.
He tells stories of his Uncle John an acclaimed writer and his father becoming estranged until one day when they met at their cardiologist's office neither knowing they went there. John, who was married to the profound writer, Joan Didion would play an important part in Dunne's upbringing, and Didion and his uncle would be in his life until their deaths, with Dunne actually doing a documentary on Didion.
The book goes into the dark place of death with Dominique's murder and actually opens with the scene of a police officer coming to Lenny's house to tell her of her daughter's injuries and being transported to the hospital. In great detail, Dunne goes into what they believe happened to her and the abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. As Dunne points out when you wanted to tell someone a secret, Dominique was the one to go to, but in the end, she died with no one knowing what she had been going through.
As for the trial, the boyfriend was made to look like a saint, and the outcome shockingly horrifying for the family. And this was actually the impetus which broke Dominick and John's relationship.
With all this said, there are many, many funny stories as well as interesting tidbits of Griffin's life and trying to succeed as an actor and producer and his innocence and how his life was changed in so many ways by being the son/nephew/brother of a prominent, but dysfunctional family.
The Friday Afternoon Club is a fascinating read, one of the best memoirs I believe I have ever read. You can actually feel the pain, the sorrow, the joy and the crazy in his magnificent writing.
Published by Penguin Press
November 5, 2024
Griffin Dunne wrote the most nonchalant memoir of name dropping:
Frank Sinatra - crush on his mom
Carrie Fisher - best friend/lover/confidante
Joan Didion - aunt
Elizabeth Montgomery - first babysitter
Humphrey Bogart
The Kennedy's
Otis Preminger
Dennis Hopper - doing coke at his home
Jack Nicholson
Roman Polanski
Richard Dreyfuss - also doing coke at his home
I can go on and on.
The Friday Afternoon Club is a delightful, yet tragic story, mostly of his sister's murder and the treacherous court case they embattled and still are reminded of forty years later. I couldn't believe I was reading this as it seems more like a fiction book as opposed to a real life story of one fascinating life.
One of my favorite and most intriguing books of 2024.
Frank Sinatra - crush on his mom
Carrie Fisher - best friend/lover/confidante
Joan Didion - aunt
Elizabeth Montgomery - first babysitter
Humphrey Bogart
The Kennedy's
Otis Preminger
Dennis Hopper - doing coke at his home
Jack Nicholson
Roman Polanski
Richard Dreyfuss - also doing coke at his home
I can go on and on.
The Friday Afternoon Club is a delightful, yet tragic story, mostly of his sister's murder and the treacherous court case they embattled and still are reminded of forty years later. I couldn't believe I was reading this as it seems more like a fiction book as opposed to a real life story of one fascinating life.
One of my favorite and most intriguing books of 2024.
June 28, 2024
I listened to the Books on Tape audiobook, not listed on Goodreads.
The title of the book refers to one tiny incident in the story. My alternative title suggestions:
Badly Behaved Celebrities and Their Bratty Children
Sex, Drugs and Alcoholism
Name-dropping (but only for readers over the age of 50 or with Google to figure out who they were)
Probably more titles would be appropriate, but that's too much to think about for this egotistical book.
The title of the book refers to one tiny incident in the story. My alternative title suggestions:
Badly Behaved Celebrities and Their Bratty Children
Sex, Drugs and Alcoholism
Name-dropping (but only for readers over the age of 50 or with Google to figure out who they were)
Probably more titles would be appropriate, but that's too much to think about for this egotistical book.
Want to read
September 6, 2024Packed with celebrities, Joan Didion is his aunt, nominated by someone as the Best Book of the Year So Far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzd7r...
June 20, 2024
Dominick Dunne wrote fabulous novels in the 80's many of which were fictionalized versions of true crimes. He also wrote columns for Vanity Fair detailing celebrity trials he was covering such as O.J. Simpson, Claus Von Bulow and The Menendez Brothers. No trial he reported on was as heartbreaking as his coverage on the trial of the monster who murdered his daughter, Dominique. Griffin Dunne, son of Dominick and brother of Dominque, has written a compelling memoir that details the profound affect of Dominique's death on the family. Griffin's stories of his family reminded me of Brooke Hayward's memoir, Haywire. Even wealthy privileged families endure personal demons and tragedies. Griffin's memories of a complicated yet loving family were both entertaining and poignant. I could have done without Griffin's sexual and drug escapades but overall this memoir was both addictive and engrossing.
June 23, 2024
3.5 stars. Name dropping is no surprise when you live in Hollywood and grow up to be famous and the son/nephew of famous people. Mental illness, lots of drugs and alcohol also are no surprise. The author’s mother’s MS, his sister’s murder and his father’s homosexuality makes for even more drama. It’s an interesting mash up of privilege and trauma.
June 27, 2024
This book was not a bad read but not riveting. I mainly read out of.curiosit, given the family it centered on, and in some.ways felt like watching an accident. Mr. Dunne managed to make his family's tragedy poignant and all-too human. He has a darkly funny sense of humour, however sometimes it felt forced.
May 26, 2025
Griffin Dunne narrates this memoir of growing up in a Hollywood family. He meets many famous people throughout his childhood, teen years and later. One of his best friends was Carrie Fisher, and the two were roommates in Manhattan. He produced and acted in a variety of things.
But at its core the book is about his family. His parents have a complicated relationship. His brother struggles with mental health issues. But in the 80’s his sister Dominique, a rising star, was strangled by her ex-boyfriend. Along with their grief, they had to deal with the disappointing trial of her killer. Trials of this type, with a celebrity’s death, and with the presence of her family at the trial were rare. Griffin’s father, Domick Dunne wrote about it as a creepiness reporter for Vanity Fair.
Griffin writes with a lot of humor, openly about his and his family’s struggles. It was an interesting journey with the author.
But at its core the book is about his family. His parents have a complicated relationship. His brother struggles with mental health issues. But in the 80’s his sister Dominique, a rising star, was strangled by her ex-boyfriend. Along with their grief, they had to deal with the disappointing trial of her killer. Trials of this type, with a celebrity’s death, and with the presence of her family at the trial were rare. Griffin’s father, Domick Dunne wrote about it as a creepiness reporter for Vanity Fair.
Griffin writes with a lot of humor, openly about his and his family’s struggles. It was an interesting journey with the author.
July 2, 2024
Although the last 50 pages dragged a bit, the first 300 was so funny and so often endearing that I gave it 5 ⭐️. The Hollywood name dropping is on point, including his wonderful friendship with Carrie Fisher, and the anecdotes he shares from his personal life are hilarious and sometimes surprisingly relatable.
November 14, 2024
I simply LOVED. Celebrity gossip, heart breaking look into domestic violence, old Hollywood, present day Hollywood, addiction, family drama. I couldn’t stop! Hope Griffin writes something else, what a vivid but relaxed storyteller.
Maybe he will talk about directing Practical Magic in the next one!
Maybe he will talk about directing Practical Magic in the next one!
October 15, 2024
he talks so much about his penis
July 16, 2024
Rubbed me the wrong way, honestly.
I read this book for two straight days; it was quite interesting, though perhaps the pre-adolescent section was too long (lots of discussion of peeing and early sexual experiences). It became a bit repetitive and looping, but this was a fascinating, tragic family. Interesting sidenote about Joan Didion’s writing (and her memoir was irritating), but it was good to learn about her “side” of the family. An entire memoir could have been about Dominique’s murder/trial/aftermath. I never really understood why/how Griffin Dunne was famous (and it seems neither did he), but I always thought he seemed cute.
I read this book for two straight days; it was quite interesting, though perhaps the pre-adolescent section was too long (lots of discussion of peeing and early sexual experiences). It became a bit repetitive and looping, but this was a fascinating, tragic family. Interesting sidenote about Joan Didion’s writing (and her memoir was irritating), but it was good to learn about her “side” of the family. An entire memoir could have been about Dominique’s murder/trial/aftermath. I never really understood why/how Griffin Dunne was famous (and it seems neither did he), but I always thought he seemed cute.
August 6, 2024
4.5 stars to the entertaining memoir.
Griffin Dunne has had some life. Some life - mostly in the public and suffused with pain, suffering, moments of great joy and loss.
From his childhood to his wild teen years as Carrie Fisher's best friend. Mega stars like Sean Connery drifted through his life via his parent's Hollywood circle. he's Joan Didion's nephew by marriage.
and he lost his dear sister, actress Dominque Dunne, to a crazed abusive boyfriend, ending in a trial that changed the fabric of celebrity reporting.
This was a great story about a family,their lives and tragedy and the Hollywood industry,
Griffin Dunne has had some life. Some life - mostly in the public and suffused with pain, suffering, moments of great joy and loss.
From his childhood to his wild teen years as Carrie Fisher's best friend. Mega stars like Sean Connery drifted through his life via his parent's Hollywood circle. he's Joan Didion's nephew by marriage.
and he lost his dear sister, actress Dominque Dunne, to a crazed abusive boyfriend, ending in a trial that changed the fabric of celebrity reporting.
This was a great story about a family,their lives and tragedy and the Hollywood industry,
July 6, 2024
What a beautifully written memoir of a family surviving multiple traumas & finding perfect peace (in their own way). I Absolutely loved the many stories that transported me back to past eras in pop culture along the way- found myself laughing, stunned & deeply touched. It is clear that within this imperfect family story, the one thing that shines so brightly is love.
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