Friday Afternoon Club - Griffin Dunne

Memoir

Rating: 8/10

When Actor, Director and Producer Griffin Dunne considered writing a memoir about family, he asked his only living relative, his brother Alex. Alex’s response was gracious…write whatever you want but write it from a place of love. And that is exactly what the author imbues in every page of this intimate and lovingly crafted book.

In his prologue Dunne recalls a conversation he had with his father, himself a writer. “A writer will always be selling someone out, their story becoming collateral damage in the telling of the authors tale.” I’m not sure why he included that, as he does no such thing in his own memoir. Despite growing up in an industry teeming with the rich and famous, when he speaks of anyone it is with the utmost respect. If you expect to stumble into some juicy, gossipy revelations, you will not get them here.

Compiled of stories from his childhood through to the birth of his own child, Dunne explores a legacy of both fame and pain. While he writes about the murder of his sister, Dominique, it only starts about sixty percentage of the way through and is done in the context of the devastation it wrecks on his family. Most of the horrors of that time are depicted in his telling of the trial of her murder at the hands of an abusive partner. The travesty of justice that followed is one that could exist today, forty some years later. I found myself wondering if that is why he chose to tell it that way.

I had the pleasure of listening to this on audio, where Dunne himself narrates. His voice trembling at certain passages brought tears to my eyes.

Whether his intention or not, he now needs to add another artistic talent to his resume. Writer.

Family Tree

Dominick Dunne – father, writer, journalist

Lennie Dunne – mother, actress, activist

Dominique Dunne – sister, actress

Alex Dunne – brother, artist

John Dunne – uncle, literary critic & essayist

Joan Didion – aunt, writer

Carey Lowell – ex-wife, actress

Hannah Dunne – daughter, actress & model

*There are more of course, but these are the key players in the story.

Book Pairing(s): The Boys: A Memoir Of Hollywood & Family by Ron Howard & Clint Howard, The Extraordinary Life Of An Ordinary Man by Paul Newman, Vanderbilt: Rise & Fall Of An American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper