Diane Keaton (Author)
Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she’d collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK. So begins Diane Keaton’s unforgettable memoir about her mother and herself. In it you will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always-thinking Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. In a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother. Over the course of her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals—literally thousands of pages—in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, and, most probingly, herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Diane’s grandparents. Diane has sorted through these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother—a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy, struggling to find an outlet for her talents—as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.
More than the autobiography of a legendary actress, Then Again is a book about a very American family with very American dreams. Diane will remind you of yourself, and her bonds with her family will remind you of your own relationships with those you love the most.
Diane Keaton has starred in some of the most memorable movies of the past forty years, including the Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, and Something’s Gotta Give. Her many awards include the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. Keaton lives with her daughter and son in Los Angeles.
Diane Keaton has starred in some of the most memorable movies of the past forty years, including the Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, and Something’s Gotta Give. Her many awards include the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. Keaton lives with her daughter and son in Los Angeles.
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Publisher: Random House (November 15, 2011)Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400068789
ISBN-13: 978-1400068784
Genre : Biographies & Memoirs
Review
It has been a surprise to me at times and is somewhat confusing again at times. Ms. Keaton wrote her story along with her mother's own biography written as a diary or one could just say, her mother puts down her thoughts and feeling often, ending up with about 90 notebooks. In as much as Diane tears along with her story and seemingly to me she jumps right into parts of her mother's writings (it is true that her mother's story is in different type, yet if you read quickly as I do, I have to stop every once in awhile and go back as I begin to wonder what just happened.) Ah yes, Diane has changed the writer. It's not a big problem, but somewhat irksome to me. Diane told by herself is an unusual female, never seeming to be very interested in the opposite sex even a little bit and that is shown in high school where she says she is not liked and ugly and unattractive and uninterested in the opposite sex. She has a habit of constantly putting herself down, calling herself stupid, dumb, unlikeable. She claims she was terrible in school, getting only C minuses, and simply not understanding much at school at all. Yet, she goes on to remark upon her successes in many fields outside school. She may have had a learning disability and not have been stupid at all as I am sure is true. She may mention this before the end of the book; I hope so for I'm getting tired of her beating her breast claiming stupidity and yet accomplishing so much. She sounds very eccentric but in a way that makes me feel that a lot of it could be an act.
As you can see, I'm not finding her charming, and I always before thought her a very interesting and exciting woman. You'll have to try her on yourself for I feel this book will have its lovers and then others like me who say I don't find her someone I'd want to spend any time with. Perhaps others will find Ms. Keaton's strange mix of biographies interesting and captivating. I just think her method detracts from my desire to learn more of either character. I hope others have more fun with this book than I am having, but then no one can say Ms. Keaton is boring. That last being said for the fans who will think my review is absolutely and cruelly wrong. Honestly, all I should say is read it for yourself.
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