last weekend, after a trip to la, i decided to stay with my auntie trace and uncle karl. while awaiting for them to pick me up from the amtrak, i decided to check out the used book section at the beale library. i didn't find anything to buy but did come across anjelica huston's memoir, a story lately told: coming of age in ireland, london, and new york. i love her because of her work with wes anderson, and of course the witches, so decided to check it out.
i wasn't sure what to expect, i mean, she is etheline tenebaum! the lost mother of darjeeling limited and morticia adams!! this memoir had to be extraordinary!! but sadly it wasn't.
this memoir lacked heart. it is almost as though huston wrote it simply to make money versus sharing her life. could she be doing that bad? i mean i did just look up her imdb, she has been voicing tinkerbell movies, maybe she is hurting? it also seemed like she didn't want to be outdone by her sister, allegra, who she thanked in the acknowledgements for inspiring her. if it was personal growth, she needs to try digging deeper.
the one thing that i took from this memoir is that huston likes to namedrop. if feel bad (due mostly to this memoir) but didnt realize that huston's father was a famous director, like the african queen famous. and due to this huston's childhood was very glamorous filled with hollywood's elite always randomly dropping by their home. i would say 50% of the time discussed about ireland was just names of celebrities. so many people were named, all minor characters, that i lost track and could not keep everyone straight. (though i must admit that i was impressed by the namedropping of john steinbeck.) the remaining 50% of the ireland era was spent discussing the description of their mansion and their horses. it lacked funny little anecdotes one has as a child. the only one i can remember is huston being embarassed while performing macbeth but that turned out to be peter o'toole's memory and not her own.
the london era was filled with the same namedropping. marianne faithfull was mentioned. also the fact that the director of romeo and juliet was interested in casting huston as juliet but her father wanted her in his film. i hate to be mean but can not imagine her as juliet that film as it was made is perfection. also i felt like huston's #teenageproblems about doing the film were an excuse for her poor performance.
the london era was also when huston lost her mother in a car accident. it was a tragedy that huston discussed without any feeling. maybe it was too difficult for her to discuss honestly, but if she wanted to pay tribute to her mother, she missed her chance. it was a very distant discussion of a very tragic event in her life.
the new york era covered her absuive relationship with bob richardson, who is terry richardson's dad! while googling for photos of a young anjelica huston (she was gorgeous), saw one of terry and huston which seemed odd but now after reading this it's even odder. richardson, a successful photographer and like twentysomething years her senior was crazy and controlling for lack of a better description. she was young and sadly put up with it until she realized how horrible her life was on trip to mexico and finally left him. again, the lack of emotion of heart was even seen in the discussion of this relationship.
i must admit i did find myself romantizing the gritty new york scene huston was apart of, ie living at the chelsea hotel (yes even with its creepy stories). also all of her modeling in europe sounded so glamourous as well, though she seemed a little thin-skinned initially, crying at a nyc go-see.
as i mentioned before this memoir was not that interested and read more like a who's who of hollywood. i was looking forward to reading funny little anecdotes about her growing up and coming of age, but every story just seemed like the means for her to brag about something.
though i should add, by reading between the lines, one can find the inspiration for her amazing performances in wes anderson films. for as glamourous her parents were they were absent from most of her life. they were also more concerned with their own love affairs then the raising of her children. perhaps it is this lack of parenting growing up that huston drew as inspiration for the messed up mothers she played in anderson films. to take it one step further, she is also channeling her mother with her depictions of ex-wives of insensitive yet creative men in anderson's films. though this epiphany is not enough to justify reading the memoir, just watch a wes anderson film instead to see huston at her finest.
oh and i will add, i also learned through photos that huston dated jack nicholson (hich i didn't know), now that is memoir i want to read!
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