The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir by Griffin Dunne

A few weeks ago, my friend Kate invited me to a book talk at Green Apple Books in the Sunset. I jumped at the chance when I heard it would be featuring Griffin Dunne. I had the publication date of his book on my calendar, because I couldn't wait to read his new memoir, "The Friday Afternoon Club." That evening Dunne spoke in conversation with Tobias Wolff, author of "This Boy's Life." In front of a very small, intimate group of people, the two men talked about Dunne's new book and how he came to write it. The book chronicles Dunne's star-studded Hollywood upbringing as the son of Dominick Dunne and Ellen Griffin Dunner, and nephew of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunner. Growing up among famous actors and writers, along with his brother Alex and sister Dominique, his childhood seemed picturesque. However, everything changed the day his actress-sister Dominique, who starred in the movie "Poltergeist," was killed by her mentally ill-chef-boyfriend. Growing up in Los Angeles in the early 1980s, I remember very well the chaos around the Dominique Dunne murder trial. From Dunne's perspective, we get to see the stress it caused his whole family, and the injustice that his sister would be murdered when she was a young, rising star. Dunne coped the way he knew best, by acting in movies and television. He continued to work steadily even during the middle of the trial because it helped ground him. At the book event, moderator Wolff asked Dunne if it was hard to write the memoir, because it brought back so many painful memories. Dunne said no, he loved writing the book because it brought back to life his sister, parents, aunt, and uncle. He said the hard part was finishing the book, because he did not get to work with them every day. I loved the book, and so enjoyed meeting him in person. He was smart, funny, charming, and so well spoken. What a treat, if only for one book, to get to sit at the table with the Dunne family. To buy this book on Amazon click here.