Diane Keaton and her mother Dorothy are both women that could be considered complicated. When Diane sat down to write she realised that for the book to work, to resonate it would need to include the story of her mother who had throughout her life keep 85 journals, journals that recorded thoughts and feelings on her marriage, children, grandparents, quite extraordinary stories that Diane felt deserved to be heard.
This book gives the most amazing snapshot of how people see things often from totally different perspectives and often they can all be in the same room.The book links seamlessly from Dorothy to Diane and vice versa, there are all the Keaton Hollywood Stories and all the big names and from Dorothy all the stories of children growing, marriage, the desperate desire to find herself through her creative outlets, the sense of lost opportunities and missed pathways leads to an immense amount of frustration and this impacts on her marriage.Diane Keaton experiences many of the same frustrations but in different times,places and emotional spaces. There is an amazing Mother-Daughter bond here and their intertwined experiences especially emotionally as both age is quite revealing.
This is a book that is easily read, there is a lot of humour, there are secrets and thwarted hopes, a heap of honesty, wonderful photos, amazing stories from both, a warmth, it is a snuggle up with type of book.Both Dorothy Hall and Diane Keaton are fascinating people, the way they dealt with life was so hands on, practical, down to earth.This book will get you thinking, if you have a parent who doesn`t journal try and tape their reminiscences, they need to be kept as the family backstop.
