Then Again

By: Diane Keaton

Narrated by: Diane Keaton

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Janet Maslin, The New York Times • People • Vogue

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR —Financial Times • Chicago Sun-Times The Independent • Bookreporter The Sunday Business Post

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 mother and herself. In it 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, and, most probingly, herself. Dorothy also recorded memorable stories about Diane’s grandparents. 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 a legendary actress, 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.

©2011 Diane Keaton (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“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 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)

“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)

It touched my heart

This beautifully written book spoke to me. Diane Keaton is a fabulous author! What an amazing talent. Thank you Ms Keaton!

Keaton Needs Chemistry

The predominant feature of this memoir is that is it almost entirely without conflict. There is no personal growth through adversity, no "coming of age", no sense of achievement that comes from meeting personal and professional challenges, nor any sense of "is that all there is?". Keaton's bulimia and her mother's Alzheimer's could have been main structural beams on which to hang the stories, but instead these issues are treated as incidental background players.

As a reader of about the same chronological age as Keaton, I remember well the Annie Hall persona and how it affected me at a time in my life where my own persona was not as well defined. How I envied her - the edgy outfits, the life, the blathering comic affect and seeming befuddlement turned into advantage. Things have changed for me, as well as for her. She's now a successful well-known actor but no longer someone I envy, as her looks and style have become mainstream and I have become more like the Annie Hall of the 60's. Sans the comic but clumsy befuddlement, of course.

The main thing that comes across to me in this memoir is not the idolizing of her mother, which actually works quite well as a series of dueling journals, not the odd and preciously stage-worthy names she gives her children, names which really are more appropriate for household pets. It's the fact that Keaton needs the creative charisma of a Woody Allen or a Warren Beatty, or the dark presence of a Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino in order to really shine. By herself she is just an average actor with an average mother who likes to write. And the family life she presents, while enviable in the sense of ease and comfort, is bereft of any kind of conflict or challenge. Her family is overflowing with love and goodness and movie roles fall into her lap, and by herself, Diane is just half of an equation.

Someone once said this about writing: "Want a good story? Part One, put someone in a tree. Part Two, get him out." The trouble with "Then Again" is there's no tree.

Diane's performance adds so much!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. She did a very good job writing it, and a great job reading it.

What did you like best about this story?

Diane's reading of her own words -- genuine emotions as punctuation.

What about Diane Keaton???s performance did you like?

It was fantastic -- as though she was reading the book to me.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed with her and cried with her.

Any additional comments?

Don't be snobby about the fact that it's Diane Keaton and therefore not highbrow. Just read it.

A Very Engaging Book

I never knew much about Diane Keaton but I have always enjoyed the way she didn't seem to take herself too seriously. Her performances in Father of the Bride and the sequel, and in First Wives Club, are examples of what I mean. I never saw Annie Hall but just rented it on iTunes. Looking forward to that.

I enjoyed this book and the author's reading of it. Some of her inflections and laughs made ME laugh. Just terrific. What a genuine quirky woman! She didn't trash anyone. You won't make a mistake in listening to this book.

My only criticisms are that it was just too short, ended too soon and left a few blanks. For example, I would have liked to know more about the Hall siblings in later life (even though their lives are certainly not the focus of the book and the siblings may have asked Diane to lay off!)

Extremely entertaining

What did you love best about Then Again?

Listening to Ms Keaton narrating makes her stories about her life and her mother's life more personal and extremely entertaining. Great fun!

What other book might you compare Then Again to and why?

I would compare it to Michael Moore's latest book.

Which character – as performed by Diane Keaton – was your favorite?

Her transformation from her voice to her mother's makes the book a theatrical experience beyond merely reading words from a page.

Should be titled Diane Keaton's Family

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not for film buffs! Not enough attention to her film career or professional experiences. She is fixated on the death of her parents. File under death, dying, hospice.

What else would you have wanted to know about Diane Keaton’s life?

Insiders view of filmakers and filmmaking; professional anecdotes.

Confusing

I found this audiobook just a little confusing as it jumped back and forth between the author's life and the memoirs of her mother. While both were interesting, it was not always easy to discern who's life I was listening to. I frequently had to go back and listen to a section again to be sure whose part of the story I was listening to. This one perhaps would be better as an ebook where you can actually read rather than listen to. However, both stories were interesting. I particularly admire Diane Keaton for her attitude to her looks and for making the amazing decision to adopt a child at the age of 50 then another at 55. Being 55 myself, I cannot imagine taking on motherhood for the first time at this age. A very interesting person. Hopefully others will find the audio book less confusing than I did.

No quite what I expected

Good on the whole but falls short of expectations in some parts. As an homage to her mother, Ms Keaton does an admirable job. However, the narrative gets lots at points. Nevertheless, an enjoyable listen

Normal story

I liked this book for the normalness of it. A woman and her mother, loves and lost loves, children, and death. Memoirs can often be about extremes. This was just a shared experience by someone who happens to be a famous person.

Good listen

I really liked this book, but there was a little bit too much family history and not enough just about Dianne. She is such an interesting person that I wish she would have talked a little bit more about herself, but "then again," that's not what the book was about. It was really moving and had me in tears a few times, especially at the end when I understood the full meaning of the title of the book.