The Friday Afternoon Club

A Family Memoir

By: Griffin Dunne

Narrated by: Griffin Dunne

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2024 Griffin Dunne (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“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

“Griffin Dunne knows how to tell a story . . . Here he uses his authorial gifts—a filmmaker’s eye, photographic memory and way with a quip—to great effect, exploring how the seemingly charmed lives of the Dunnes unraveled.”—Washington Post

Wonderful!

I laughed and cried and got angry and happy and terribly, awfully sad! The life this author has lived, there are no words! Blessings for Griffin Dunne and the complete Dunne family.

Beautiful & touching tribute to his family

Have always been shocked by the Trial & the outcome. Have read most of Dominick Dunne’s books. This book by Griffin tugged @ my heart. Made me cry, then laugh out loud & then spurred anger. It’s a book for anyone who has tragically lost someone & a roadmap to find a life after enduring pain. The Dunne’s are a true family, they helped each other through a horrific time. It’s a book about love.

The love in this family, and the humor shines through this memoir.

It was very entertaining and I was swept up in compassion and outrage at the injustice of watching a killer not suffer the consequences of his hideous act. The narrator was a very sympathetic character with an ability to laugh at his own foibles. The old Hollywood gossip was fun and I loved his lifelong friendship with Carrie Fisher. We got to know her wicked sense of humor too.

A super look at Hollywood’s past

This is an incredible memoir that everyone should read who remembers Hollywood’s past and present. I couldn’t put it down… A wonderful book… Read it now.

Dunne’s narration is terrific

I loved it all the way through. Just a perfect memoir of an interesting family. Once it got going I couldn’t think about anything else. I highly recommend it. Especially for those of us who grew up at the same time as Griffin Dunne. Great job. 😎

Family

This is a true honest to goodness book about something the majority of us have, Family. Full of blood, sweat and tears, love, hate and laughter.
The Hollywood families in the background make the story so entertaining and makes you laugh and makes you cry.Loved the book, will read it over and over.

Excellent memoir

Griffin Dunne has captured a fascinating story rich with amazing details of a spectacular family.

Honest storytelling, after the Major Players got it wrong

If you have read everything about the Dunnes,’ This is a must read. It fills in so many misconceptions and changed my understanding of Nic Dunne and John.
It’s beautifully written and a lovely narration. It could have been longer, that’s how much I soaked in it.

Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.

I loved everything about the book. It was spellbinding. the Dunn family is an incredible story.

Like catching up w/ my best friend

I *loved* this book. It felt like one of those wonderful late-night conversations with one's closest friend, like we were just catching up since last we'd spoken. An unvarnished tale, told with tremendous warmth & humor. Thank you, Griffin, for writing this.