They Went Another Way

A Hollywood Memoir

De: Bruce Eric Kaplan

Narrado por: Bruce Eric Kaplan

This program is read by the author.

A darkly comic memoir about being a working creative person in a world that is growing ever more dysfunctional, by acclaimed New Yorker cartoonist and television writer Bruce Eric Kaplan

In January 2022, Bruce Eric Kaplan found himself confused and upset by the state of the world and the state of his life as a television writer in Los Angeles. He started a journal to keep from going mad, which eventually became They Went Another Way.

The book’s through line traces his attempt to get a television project set up in the increasingly Byzantine world of Hollywood. But as he details the project’s ups and downs, Kaplan finds himself ruminating not only on show business but also on today’s political and social issues, on old movies and TV shows and music, on his family, on his friends, on his past, on his failing heating system, and on all the dead birds that
keep showing up in his backyard.

This hilarious and surprisingly moving book is about life—about art, about love, about alienation, about connection, about ugliness and beauty, about disappointment, wonder, and hope. In short, it is about everything.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.

Reseñas de la Crítica

<p>“Bruce Eric Kaplan has long been one of our foremost humorists—in cartoons, on TV—but his prose is him at his best. His impressions of life are both dagger-sharp and comforting and he engages with the challenge of everyday—everyday parenthood, everyday politics, everyday madness— to create something of philosophical depth and comic precision. This book doesn’t shy away from the challenges of being a person, yet does no less than remind me of the magic in the quotidian, of all there is to love about being human.”<br> <b>—Lena Dunham</b><br><br> “It's the best book I've read about waiting for something to happen. It's beautiful. I love it so much.”<br> <b>—Gary Janetti, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of<i> Do You Mind If I Cancel?</i> and <i>Start Without Me</i></b><br><br> “Bruce Eric Kaplan has written a funny, riveting, honest, and shocking memoir about hope and heartbreak. Essential reading for anyone aspiring to, contemplating, or dreaming of the Hollywood life.”<br> <b>—Delia Ephron, <i>New York Times </i>bestselling author of <i>Left on Tenth</i></b><br> <b><i>­<br> </i></b>“Bruce Eric Kaplan's hilarious, harrowing memoir captures the Sisyphean slog of Hollywood screenwriting better than any work of art I've ever seen. Brutal, devastating, and also somehow inspiring, it made me laugh, scream and sigh with recognition. I absolutely loved it.”<br> <b>—Simon Rich, author of<i> Glory Days</i><br></b><br>“I don’t know anyone funnier than Bruce Eric Kaplan and I don’t know anyone who suffers more than Bruce Eric Kaplan. Both of these truths bring me great joy.”<br> <b>—Judd Apatow</b><br><br>"Screenwriter and cartoonist Kaplan captures the agonizing uncertainty of trying to get a TV series greenlit in this plangently funny memoir. . . With a balance of sharpness and pathos, the results offer a revealing look at the demoralizing effects of gig work. This mordantly entertaining account buffs the shine off Tinseltown."<br>—<b><i>Publishers Weekly</i></b><br><br>"A good read for anyone seeking a truly frank look at what the life and career of a working television writer looks like." <br>—<b><i>Booklist</i></b></p>

A True Hollywood Memoir Indeed

Nothing gets more raw than Bruce’s account of a year+ trying to sell a television show in Hollywood (post 2020). It’s a reminder to take care of yourself, the people around you, and to not get consumed by the journey of making a project happen in the agitating entertainment industry.

I myself have been trying to sell my first TV pilot since August 2023 and am experiencing ghastly similar results like the author’s. That said, this made me want to kms a lot less.

Favorite of the year

I can’t begin to explain how much I loved this book. It was so funny and poignant but in such a simple, elegant way. It was almost like a meditation, if meditation was meant to entertain and make you laugh and cry and the same time. Bruce Eric Kaplan delivers a soliloquy about his home, his children, old friends, birds flying into windows and Glenn Close all with the same neutral cadence whether it’s based in awe & bewilderment or just sheer annoyance. I continue to pick up this book long after finishing it and just open to a random page for either inspiration to write or to just feel present & grounded. Which all might lead the same thing anyway; perfection in the imperfect.
Which is what perfection actually is.
This book is both about that, and IS that, without ever saying anything remotely close to that whatsoever.

How boring it is

I want my money back this is the slowest most boring book I have ever attempted to read.

Boring as mud

Holy Hollywood, what a terrible book! I guess “book” is being generous. It’s more like an endless rant about being an entitled, performative liberal whose victim complex is only eclipsed by the dullness of his prose. I have never been less inclined to give an author the benefit of the doubt as he whines about everything from Glenn Close to people who watch Fox News. I guess if there’s any silver lining to Trump’s recent election, it’s that it will make people like this go absolutely fucking crazy. With writers like these, it’s no wonder 99% of the stuff on TV is utterly unwatchable. BONUS TORTURE: listen to the audio book, read by the author in all his listless misery.