Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Money, Murder and Dominick Dunne
Robert Hofler

University of Wisconsin Press
April 18, 2017 / ISBN 0299311503
Nonfiction /Biography

Reviewed by Nicole Merritt
 

 

Loved, loved and loved this book. Hofler does Dominick justice in this biographical writing. Something Dominick Dunne searched for all his life was justice, for himself, his murdered daughter, and his talent. Towards the end of his life, he was finally able to receive the accolades he longed for in his crime writing columns in Vanity Fair magazine.

He grew up as an Irish Catholic, a child of a dominant father and surgeon, lived in one of the more affluent neighborhoods, yet never quite felt good enough Dominick struggled his entire life to overcome his father’s dislike of his effeminate nature, and he soon married and had children to prove his masculinity. Later divorcing and slowly “coming out”, he was finally able to live free.

He has a long portfolio of literary and film credits that tell his story and the story of the people surrounding him, as he lived among the famous, yet he lived under the shadow of his brother, John Dunne, and wife Joan Didion.

This book motivated me want to read the rest of his works and delve further into his career history. Mentioned in his credits are books and films that, though fictionalized novels, lay hidden the real truths of Hollywood. He considered himself a namedropper, but the names he dropped were not just any names. They were the names of the rich and famous, and Dominick Dunne knew them all personally.

As the film critics so often give the two thumbs up, I give this one a “all hands on deck”. Come ready to dive into this with all your senses ready to be engaged. It is really well written and emotionally enthralling.

Reviewed 2017
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