The Friday Afternoon Club

A Family Memoir

De: Griffin Dunne

Narrado por: Griffin Dunne

The instant New York Times bestseller • Named a Best Book of the Year by TIME, NPR, People, Town & Country, and Air Mail

“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.

©2024 Griffin Dunne (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Rueful and diverting . . . Irish touchstones, such as wit, guilt and silence, are all here, spangled with late-20th-century Hollywood stardust . . . Heartbreaking and wry.”—Wall Street Journal

“Warm and perceptive . . . This book [has] many well-wrapped little gifts . . . [and] pockets of real depth."—The New York Times

“What makes these unimaginable events so readable, and allows Dunne to find a kind of grace even amid tragedy, are his unshakable black humor and unfailing nose for a good story . . . One might also detect the influence of Aunt Joan . . . Dunne, too, is a prospector for the incandescent detail.”—Los Angeles Times

Intimate & involving!

Just loved the story of the Dunne family! Griffin’s reading was intimate & I couldn’t stop listening. I wished it had gone on longer. I got so involved. Bravo & congratulations!

Great Read

Love the book and having it preformed by the author made it even better. At times I laughed and cried while reading. Very heartfelt book.

Griffin Dunne's portrait of a celebrity family is vivid

Sincere, revealing, witty, and insightful, I was entertained and enthralled by his stories and memories. He provides details that evoke time periods, illuminate historical events and occasions, and embody the characters from his real life with great warmth and style. Though family tragedy and dysfunction is at the core of this memoir, his maturity and perspective as the writer of the story give the book balance, humor, and great insight.

Bared His Soul

I’ve been a fan of Griffin Dunne’s work, so I thought I’d give the book a try. It was so interesting because it will together all of the different stories. I’ve read and seen over the last 40 years or so. I appreciated his candor and storytelling.

Very engaging and from the heart

I have always liked Griffey Dunne and his wonderfully odd personality. I knew I would be laughing, but ended up crying as well. Many times. Well read in griffins warm and captivating voice.

The humor and true feelings

I loved every word from start to finish! I was so happy to see that he narrated His own book.

Thouroughly entertaining

An entire book of great stories told with flair and humor and humility I could not stop listening

A real family story.

A solid read…or listen. Engaging. Grew up knowing the story but didn’t KNOW the real story

This book touched on my every emotion

A wonderful memoir of a very real family. The story is so well-written and vividly told, that it played out like a Super 8 movie in my head, and at times I would swear I even heard the reels and film spinning as if I were watching a home movie. I enjoyed this book so much that i finished it in less than two days because I refused to take my AirPods out of my ears for even one minute longer than I had to!!

such a funny, poignant book

I loved it all - well, I could have done without the horrifying scatological story. :( That was several bridges too far!)