Review: Then Again

Then Again by Diane Keaton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I loved Diane Keaton's autobiography, Then Again. It turns out that she is exactly what she's appeared to be since coming on the scene as Woody Allen's la-de-da girl, Annie Hall - an insecure woman trying to find herself, someone who's not a great actress but who makes the most out of every situation. Not that it didn't take her a while to come to terms with that...

I also enjoyed this writing project: to try to write two biographies in one; her own, as the Grammy-winning star of Annie Hall, and her mother's life story, a 1940s-50s homemaker and budding memoirist/artist. I think she succeeded in doing what she set out to do. Alzheimer's stories are always heart-breaking, so she had the emotional impact of that subject matter to fall back on. And, luckily for Ms. Keaton, she had her mother's eighty-five journals for extra material. Many biography writers do not have that kind of material at their disposal. She used it sparingly (I wanted to read so much more of Dorothy's journals than what Ms Keaton included in her book), and she supplied those journal entries with her own memories of the events.

Ms. Keaton also gives the reader (at least, this reader) just enough behind the scenes accounts of her relationships with Woody Allen, Warren Beatty and Al Pacino. Full disclosure, the main reason I read this non-fiction book is because Annie Hall is one of my favorite movies of all time, I loved Reds, and I really enjoy The Godfather trilogy.

By reading Then Again I learned more about Diane Keaton the actress than I ever knew before, I learned more about her roles as a mother and a daughter, and I got a few peeks at the private life of a major Hollywood star.

I found the memoir a satisfying read, and enjoyed the creativity either Ms. Keaton or Random House used in putting the book together. Well done.




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