Then Again - by Diane Keaton (Paperback)

About the Book

In her unforgettable memoir, actress Keaton realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. In a remarkable act of creation, she combs through her mother's 85 journals to create an unflinching portrait of her life.

Book Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Legendary actress Diane Keaton's memoir about her mother and herself, "as warm, funny, and self-deprecating as Keaton's onscreen persona" (Vogue)--featuring an afterword by Anna Quindlen.

"A far-reaching, heartbreaking, absolutely lucid book about mothers, daughters, childhood, aging, mortality, joyfulness, love, work, and the search for self-knowledge."--The New York Times

"This book feels like Diane Keaton. Which means it's lovable."--Entertainment Weekly

"Then Again reads like the diary of an ordinary woman who suddenly became a movie star, who doesn't quite believe any of it happened, but it did."--Los Angeles Times

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Janet Maslin, The New York Times; People; Vogue

Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she'd collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK.

So begins Diane Keaton's unforgettable memoir about her relationship with her mother, who shaped much of Diane's life. You will meet the woman known to tens of millions as Annie Hall, but you will also meet, and fall in love with, her mother, the loving, complicated, always-thinking Dorothy Hall. To write about herself, Diane realized she had to write about her mother, too, and how their bond came to define both their lives. In a remarkable act of creation, Diane not only reveals herself to us, she also lets us meet in intimate detail her mother. Over the course of her life, Dorothy kept eighty-five journals--literally thousands of pages--in which she wrote about her marriage, her children, her parents, and, most probingly, herself. Diane has sorted through these pages to paint an unflinching portrait of her mother--a woman restless with intellectual and creative energy, struggling to find an outlet for her talents--as well as her entire family, recounting a story that spans four generations and nearly a hundred years.

More than the autobiography of an icon of film and style, Then Again is a book about a very American family with very American dreams. Diane will remind you of yourself, and her bonds with her family will remind you of your own relationships with those you love the most.

Review Quotes

"For anyone looking to join one woman's--albeit a famous woman's--touching and funny journey into the vortex that is the parent-child relationship, Then Again features an especially honest tour guide."--USA Today

"[A] rich and ruminative autobiographical journey."--The New York Times Book Review (Editor's Choice)

"Although peek-behind-the-curtain moments are delicious--Woody Allen! Warren Beatty! Jack Nicholson! . . . this is a [memoir] about a mother and a daughter, with insights and confessions and lessons to which all readers can relate."--The Wall Street Journal

"Between its many glimpses of Ms. Keaton at different ages, its telling of Dorothy's story and its loving portraits of Dexter, Ms. Keaton's teenage daughter, this book manages to present the full spectrum of women's experiences, from babyhood to adolescence, youthful insecurity (and secret bulimia) to liberating adulthood to slow, lingering death. Its power as a collage has been greatly enhanced by tight, punchy editing of the fragments that Ms. Keaton variously writes or excerpts. Some of its stories are universal and painful, yet this book is not mired in melancholy. Instead, it's inspiring in its empathy, wisdom, and self-knowledge."--Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"Both heartbreaking and joyful, [Then Again] covers the gamut of life experiences facing all women."--Chicago Sun-Times

"A poem about women living in one another's not uncomplicated memories. . . . Part of what makes Diane Keaton's memoir, Then Again, truly amazing is that she does away with the star's 'me' and replaces it with a daughter's 'I.' "--Hilton Als, The New Yorker

"This book feels like Diane Keaton. Which means it's lovable."--Entertainment Weekly

"As warm, funny, and self-deprecating as Keaton's onscreen persona--[Then Again] traces a profound dramatic arc: that of a young woman coming into her own as an artist, and of a daughter becoming a mother."--Vogue

"Then Again reads like the diary of an ordinary woman who suddenly became a movie star, who doesn't quite believe any of it happened, but it did."--Los Angeles Times

"As revealed in these pages, Keaton both is and isn't what you'd expect: kooky and self-deprecating like Annie Hall, but also articulate and remarkably candid. [Then Again is a] pure delight."--People

About the Author

Diane Keaton starred in some of the most memorable films of the past fifty years, including the Godfather trilogy, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, Something's Gotta Give, and Book Club. Her many awards include the Golden Globe and the Academy Award. She was the author of three New York Times bestselling memoirs, Then Again, Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty, and Brother & Sister, among other works.