The Friday Afternoon Club
| Author | Griffin Dunne |
|---|---|
| Audio read by | Griffin Dunne |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Penguin Press |
Publication date | June 11, 2024 |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 0593652827 |
The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir is a 2024 memoir by American writer, director and actor Griffin Dunne. It details Dunne's life growing up surrounded by the elite of Hollywood and Manhattan, with the narrative anchored by the eventual murder of his sister, Dominique.[1][2][3]
Summary
The Friday Afternoon Club is split into two parts, with the first part covering Dunne's family background and his early years, including schooling and his eventual foray into acting; the second part focuses on the Dunnes' lives following the murder of Dunne's sister, Dominique Dunne. The book opens with a Prologue that details how Ellen "Lenny" Griffin Dunne, Dunne's mother, received a visit from Detective Harold Johnston with news that Dominique had been strangled by a man named John Sweeney.
Background
Dunne belongs to a well-known family in the literary and Hollywood worlds, and he is an actor, director, and producer himself since the late 1970s. Films that he worked on include After Hours, Practical Magic, and the documentary The Center Will Not Hold, which is about his aunt Joan Didion.[4] In the 1980s, Dunne and his younger sister, Dominique, launched their own acting careers and loved to party. Each Friday, Dominique's acting class—including then-fledgling actors George Clooney and Timothy Hutton—gathered until the wee hours in the Dunne back yard as part of the "Friday Afternoon Club."[5] The Friday Afternoon Club is titled after this weekly gathering that the late actress hosted.[6]
Reception
The book was a New York Times bestseller and was named a Best Book of the Year by TIME, NPR, People, Town & Country, and Air Mail.[7] It was reviewed by The Guardian,[8] The Los Angeles Times,[9] The New York Times,[10] The Times, The Washington Post,[11] The Observer, and The Wall Street Journal.[12]
Release history
| Country | Release date | Edition | Publisher | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Various | June 11, 2024 | [13][14] | ||
| [15] | ||||
| [16] |
See more
- The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper (1999) – by Dominick Dunne
- Justice: Crimes, Trials, and Punishments (2002) – by Dominick Dunne
- Didion and Babitz (2024) – by Lili Anolik
- Money, Murder, and Dominick Dunne: A Life in Several Acts (2019) – by Robert Hofler
References
- ^ "THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB: A poignant love letter and evidence that through it all, genuine love is the backbone that keeps a family strong". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ ""The Friday Afternoon Club": Griffin Dunne on a literary family's legacy". CBS News.
- ^ "Griffin Dunne Recalls the Tragedy That Reshaped His Family". Vanity Fair.
- ^ "Review: A 'Joan Didion' Portrait, From an Intimate Source". New York Times.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: An affecting, poignant recollection of life among the Hollywood literati (Reviewed by Diane Kiesel)". Washington Independent, Review of Books.
- ^ "Growing Up With Joan Didion and Dominick Dunne, in the Land of Make-Believe". New York Times.
- ^ "Been There, Dunne That". Air Mail.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne review – a Hollywood insider with an outsider's eye". The Guardian.
- ^ "Griffin Dunne's memoir shows a life of privilege and misadventure haunted by his sister's murder". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Growing Up With Joan Didion and Dominick Dunne, in the Land of Make-Believe". New York Times.
- ^ "How Griffin Dunne's fairy-tale upbringing unraveled". The Washington Post.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (What The Reviewers Say)". Literary Hub, Bookmarks Reviews.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Hardcover)". Amazon.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Kindle Edition)". Amazon.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Paperback)". Amazon.
- ^ "The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir (Audible Audiobook – Unabridged)". Amazon.