A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London, and New York

I first read an excerpt from this autobiography in one of my issues of Vogue. I wasn't particularly blown away by the writing style, but I found Anjelica Huston's descriptions of her parents and her childhood very intriguing. So when I saw A Story Lately Told on the library shelf a few weeks ago, I decided to pick it up.

The narrative style took some getting used to, since Huston doesn't follow a specific timeline when writing about her first 18 years I mean, she obviously goes chronologically, but she sometimes bounces around when talking about a certain event or person that relates to something that happens later on). I liked this, because it wasn't just a boring "this happened, then this, then this, blah blah blah". I loved reading show more about her upbringing and all the privileges she had, but also how hard it was to grow up with such famous parents. While I did not know all of the people she mentioned, I could still appreciate how important or famous they were. I also had no idea she had a pretty dysfunctional relationship with the photographer Bob Richardson, so that was interesting (and terrifying) to read about.

After reading this first part of her autobiography (the second part is coming out later this year), it is easy to see why she became an actress. Her life was full of drama, and she was a dramatic and enigmatic person herself. I'm excited to read the second book, which goes into her years as an actress.

The only issue I had with this book was that sometime the writing was cliched. But I can forgive her for that, since "author" is not her main profession. However, her story is so interesting and so unlike my own that I found myself constantly engaged while reading this book. show less

Not the worst autobiography I have ever written, much of this book feels disjointed, like listening to a dream state with isolated moments of lucidity. In part this is because Huston is writing many of these stories about her childhood at a great remove, and she simply doesn't include more than the isolated snippets of stories, which are much like childhood memories - islands of recall in a fog of forgetfulness. The narrative is stronger as she recounts stories from her adulthood, and it is this later part of the book that is more enjoyable to read.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting the chance to know more about Anjelica Huston's life, to read her thoughts on things as well, and cannot wait for the second installment.

While many memoirs and autobiographies often either feel stilted or completely manufactured, A Story Lately Told is genuine and well-written. I liked it so much I think I'll turn in my library copy and buy my very own! :)

As is often the case with memoirs written by people famous for something other than writing, this book is essentially a stream of consciousness collection of anecdotes and names. Huston mentions a lot of famous people, describes a lot of rooms, and tells a lot of brief stories. I found it sort of gently interesting, because I think she's a fascinating person, but I also skimmed the second half and didn't feel like I was missing anything. She had a childhood that is utterly unrelatable for most people, and she doesn't pretend otherwise, which is nice.

This book was very, very ramble-y. The name dropping didn't bother me a whole bunch (obviously there is going to be some of that, considering her father and her own career), but the lack of coherency did. I blame that more on the editing, rather than the writing. It did sort of read like she was dictating to someone, who then didn't spend much time rereading what she said. Not my favorite Hollywood memoir, but definitely not the worst.

Clearly actress Angelica Houston, daughter of director John Houston, has had an interesting life. Her childhood was spent in Ireland on a 110 acre estate. After her parents divorce she moved to London with her mother, living there during the swinging 60s, the dream of millions of teenage girls. Then it was on to New York where she became a model doing work for Vogue among others. This should have been an exciting, hard to put down book. Unfortunately it was written with no emotion or reflection and reads like a calendar that has recorded the events but not the essence of life.

I had read so many glowing reviews for this book, and while I think she is a talented writer, I found myself not all that interested in what she had to say. That's an awful comment because this is a memoir of her life and a view into the life of her father as well, but I felt like it was a cathartic exercise for her more than a memoir for the general public. I guess most memoirs are, but I do enjoy picking a memoir up that is written by someone I admire (Huston being one of those), but this one was just okay.