by Diane Keaton
First published 2020
Diane Keaton opens her family albums and her mother's diaries to trace what happened to her younger brother Randy. As children in 1950s Los Angeles suburbs, they shared bunk bed stories and Halloween costumes. Their mother documented their picture-perfect American childhood. But Randy's adult life took a different turn. He became an alcoholic, struggled to keep jobs, and withdrew from the family that had once been so close. Keaton weaves together photographs, journal entries, letters, and Randy's own poetry and artwork to understand how siblings can end up on such different paths. She explores the weight of family responsibility and the bonds that survive even when distance grows between brothers and sisters. This memoir asks hard questions about mental health, addiction, and what we owe the people we love most.
Genres: family, non-fiction, biography-memoir, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, personal-journey
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 1950s
176 pages · Hardcover · Knopf Publishing Group
Content warnings: addiction, mental-illness