A Story Lately Told

By: Anjelica Huston

Narrated by: Anjelica Huston

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Writing with an exuberant love of language and detail, Anjelica Huston shares her enchanted childhood in Ireland, her teen years in London, and her coming of age as a model and nascent actress in New York.

John Huston was filming The African Queen - in the Belgian Congo - when he received a telegram from his wife announcing the birth of a healthy baby girl. She named her Anjelica, after her mother.

Now, the magnificent Academy Award-winning actress shares the story of her deeply unconventional life. Living with her glamorous and artistic mother, educated by tutors and nuns, intrepid on a horse, Huston was raised on an Irish estate to which - between movies - her father brought his array of extraordinary friends, from Carson McCullers and John Steinbeck to Peter O’Toole and Marlon Brando. Every morning, Anjelica and her brother visited their father while he took his breakfast in bed. "What news?" he’d ask. "I’d seen him the night before," Anjelica recalls, "There wasn’t much to report." So she became a storyteller.

In London, where she lives with her mother and brother in the early Sixties when her parents separate, Huston encounters the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac. She understudies Marianne Faithful in Hamlet. Seventeen, striking, precocious, but still young and vulnerable, she is devastated when her mother dies in a car crash.

Months later she moves to New York, falls in love with the much older, brilliant but disturbed photographer, Bob Richardson, and becomes a model. Living in the Chelsea Hotel, working with Richard Avedon and other photographers, she navigates a volatile relationship and the dynamic cultural epicenter of New York in the Seventies.

©2013 Anjelica Huston (P)2013 Simon & Schuster

I wanted to love this book

Anjelica Huston writes about my era. She was an iconic figure. I found her story very depressing, however. I had the strong impression that both of her parents were 'pimping' her (not in the literal sense), and that's the term which kept coming to mind when she talked about the costumes her parents wanted her to wear, places they took her as a young person. I couldn't finish it but maybe I can go back to it in the future.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Beautiful imagery

You felt as if you were in the scenes Anjelica described. From Ireland to a dirty fishing boat, her descriptions were visceral and stick with you. She is a bit of a fairy god mother.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Exquisite

This is the second book I listen to on Audible by Angelica Houston. You have indeed lived an exquisite an exciting life. Your father would be very proud of you. Your mother truly. Thank you for sharing your life. We all have our different experiences. Your journey has been extraordinary Full of such glory and sadness. Beautifully narrated and written. Thank you.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Impossible to stop listening

Any additional comments?

Along with the sequel book, still one of the greatest of the books I've listened to since joining Audible. Huston's gorgeous, whisky-toned voice combined with her rich memories make for such satisfying listening. Her confidence in recounting everything without judgment or editorializing partly why it's so fulfilling.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Not much here,,,

What disappointed you about A Story Lately Told?

This is VERY lightweight fluff. Such a disappointment. Ms. Huston does have a lovely voice.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Loved it!!

Really enjoyed this book. I read her second book first so this filled in some of the gaps.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Find Another Book

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Interior or Fashion Designers.

What could Anjelica Huston have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Tell the story not tell me what they were wearing or how the walls were painted.

What didn’t you like about Anjelica Huston’s performance?

Very dry.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

No

Any additional comments?

I finally had to give up a little halfway through the book.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

Fabulous & Engaging

What did you love best about A Story Lately Told?

A period when life was led wonderfully.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Anjelica describes her surroundings and meals in great detail.

What about Anjelica Huston’s performance did you like?

Read well by an actress. Say no more.

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

Can't wait for the sequel!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Bio

I generally enjoyed this biography as it is told be the author and read by the author.

Superbly told; an intelligent look at early life.

Where does A Story Lately Told rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is as fine as memoirs can be.

What did you like best about this story?

Candor, intelligence, specific - informed- descriptions of events, humor.

Have you listened to any of Anjelica Huston’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I will seek others of her books. She experienced a rarified childhood, and brings subtlety to her account of it. this is a fine writer at work, with first-hand, excellent material.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but I had to split it over several days.

Any additional comments?

I appreciate the effort made to convey the nuanced qualities of meaningful events in an extraordinary growing-up experience.