The Hustons

By: Lawrence Grobel

Narrated by: David Drummond

When John Huston died at 81 on August 28, 1987, America lost a towering figure in movie history. The director of such classic films as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, Prizzi's Honor, and The Dead, John Huston evoked passionate responses from everyone he encountered. He was at the center of a dynasty, with three generations of Oscar winners (Walter, John and Anjelica). Now, for the first time as an audiobook, the complete story of this remarkable family is told in The Hustons by Lawrence Grobel. The book chronicles the family's history - from Walter's days on the vaudeville circuit and his later fame on Broadway, through John's meteoric rise, to Anjelica's emergence as a great actress in film today. Grobel interviewed John Huston for over 100 hours and conducted 200 interviews with John's four children, three of his five wives, many of his mistresses, producers, writers, technicians, and a number of celebrities who rarely grant interviews. J.P. Donleavy named The Hustons the best book of the year when it was published. James A. Michener dubbed it a "Masterpiece." Kirkus called it "Spellbinding." Larry King thought it, "Biography writing at its absolute best." Frederick Raphael wrote, "The Hustons is a delicious, wicked guide to the delicious, wicked life of a sly, sadistic scoundrel who was equaled only by Byron in the sentimental cynicism and fecund carelessness with which he played the world's game." Alyn Brodsky in The Miami Herald called it, "An engrossing study in family dynamics… Marvelous… This is one of the best biographies of a Hollywood personality since - actually, I can't recall since when." And the Hollywood Reporter said it "Reads like a gutsy movie that might have been made by Huston himself."

©2000, 2014 Lawrence Grobel (P)2014 Audible Inc.

I want to see his art collection

Great narration and a fun listen. What a life...You can't dispute his creative genius and his contributions to the film industry. To me, he comes across as an entitled, arrogant d-bag,...yet likable. He was probably so much fun to hang out with, albeit once a year.

What a Life!

I cannot believe I did not know more about this amazing man. Yes, he was a very flawed man but a very interesting professional and private life

Desperately in Need of an Editor

This could have been a really good book if it were about half as long. There is a lot of interesting information in this book, which is primarily about John Huston, with a lesser amount about Walter, and Angelica and other family members appearing mostly as relevant to John's life. The first half is interesting, with a lot of information about Walter's life and career and the early years of John's career. But the second half degenerates into endless and tedious details about all of John's many marriages, relationships and affairs, and various disputes between John and other family members, friends and colleagues.

The author apparently got extraordinary access for interviews with Huston friends and family members, which is great. But it felt like he just dumped into the book everything that everybody had to say about everybody else regarding every incident in John's life, all unedited. It turns into a giant gossip-fest, with everybody getting their digs in at others. There were so many people quoted and so many scandalous events discussed in exhaustive detail that I finally gave up even trying to keep track of who all the players were and what they going on about at any given time. I just let it play in the background while I did other things. Occasionally late in the book the author would return to John or Angelica's professional career and I could start paying attention again. 37 hours of this was too much.

The best!!

A wonderful history of the Houstons, the film industry and the United States. A must listen.

in-depth and very interesting

terrific read
very surprising information about the family
starting with Walter Huston
the narration was very good and I was fully engaged in the story. highly recommend

Best Book Buy on Audible for the Curious Mind.

Hour after magical hour of fabulous storytelling! I felt like a criminal for not paying the price of three books to listen to this one. What a generous writer! The narration was great, just great. Smooth. The stories are wild, WILD! So many stories of so many people across two continents! Truly epic! This is a book I will read again. Do not deny yourself the pleasure!

Totally fascinating

Any additional comments?

Central subject here is John Huston but there is a complete and interesting biography of Walter Huston and a lesser attempt at one of Angelica as well. Regardless it's such a riveting story of an infinitely interesting man. A true maverick who left us some films that hundreds of years will remember and along the way lived an extraordinary life.

Huston's Reign

Well done very detailed. A talented but troubled family. Surprised he got as much work done as he did.

best audible I ever listed to.

Thoroughly researched, many 1st person accounts by all the family members including lots of great quotes from John Huston. The author did a masterful job writing of John Huston's definitive biography, I couldn't be more impressed. very entertaining and highly recommend to anyone with even just casual interest in the Hustons.

Long Slog

Okay it's not really a slog, but it's really long. It's definitely interesting. I'd recommend if you're a movie buff. I felt the author was a bit to nice to John. There was no mention of Steve Hodel , Steve's daughter and some of the more sadistic parties and accusations that have come to light in the past 20 years. It's possible these accusations were unknown to the author? The book is interesting and does delve superficially into the darkness of the family patriarchs mind. Much like Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, Hollywood seems to have it's own standards of decency. Especially back when this book was written. These men have a genius for making movies, but their crimes against women should give us fans more pause and reflection . The horror rhe horror. B grade