Yes, very decent book readable and quite interesting. If I was looking for the other side of the story to Joan Didion’s then I was disappointed, she barely figures here except as part of “us”, the screenwriter partnership Dunne tells his tale about. By the end of the book my initial, yes, but why be a Hollywood scriptwriter anyway, if that’s what it is like? reaction changed to, well why not, and also the money and the Oscar night parties. I did not laugh though, the jokes went right over my head, or rather seemed un-funny.

The Didion-Dunnes perhaps sum something up about America, or cover some odd contradictions about America, in their Hollywood/ New York, screenwriter/ serious novels and heavy journalism career. It seems remarkable that they achieved those things, but their marriage might be the achievement most people are interested in these days. None of the films were impressive hits.