As the title says: I'm a HUGE fan of Griffin Dunne.In the summer of 2017, I watched the John Landis film AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). I was enthralled with the film's narrative about grief and loss and survivor's guilt, as well as with its three attractive leads. Shortly after, I watched the 1994 film QUIZ SHOW, and recognized the Geritol Account Executive on the phone. I looked him up after my viewing of the film, and was amazed by the life and career he's had. Finding out just HOW many things he was connected to in showbiz was staggering and surreal. It felt like the equivalent of linking a string of murders to one serial killer. Not unlike his guest appearance on LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT. A real-life Zelig figure!This research led me down a rabbit hole that included his entire filmography, newspaper archives, and vintage magazine purchases off of eBay. By 2018, I had enough material to start a fanpage on Tumblr, and then on Instagram in 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Needless to say, I was psyched to read an advance copy. It was everything I expected and more!Griffin had such an unusual childhood, growing up at the epicenter of mid-century Hollywood, that some have even gone as far as to call him a name-dropper when he talks about it. If you've seen even a fraction of the photographs featured in his father Dominick's book, THE WAY WE LIVED THEN, you would know that Griffin is telling the truth. That really WAS his life!For those who don't know much about Griffin or his life, THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB is an excellent place to start. And yet, even for a die-hard fan like myself, I came away with some new and surprising information.In life, tragedy can quickly turn our lives into 'Before' and 'After' categories. Naturally, the book is also divided into two parts: the murder of Griffin's sister, Dominique, at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, John Sweeney. Up until FRIDAY AFTERNOON, the only other written account from Dominique's family came from father Dominick, for Vanity Fair in his breakthrough article, 'Justice'.What's unique about Griffin's book is that it's, by far, the most humanized account of Dominique that I've ever read. With a high-profile case, far too often the crime itself overshadows what the victim was like before their time was cut short. From Griffin, I learned about Dominique's sweetness, her love for animals who loved her right back, and how she was a 'foodie' long before the term was coined.I also learned how a family can grow much closer in the face of an awful tragedy. How they can howl with laughter at the most inappropriate times, to keep themselves from crying. And how even a domestic violence victim, who came from an immensely privileged background, can be so thoroughly screwed by the justice system.The biggest surprise, for me, was how much I learned about Griffin's brother, Alex. For those unfamiliar, Alex is a very low-profile figure in the Dunne family, who made the decision early to shun the life of showbiz for all of eternity. The most I knew about him was his childhood crush on Carrie Fisher (recounted in more detail here), and his 1995 disappearance on a hiking trail where he, thankfully, turned up fine three days later. I had no reason to think I would learn anything more about him. But to my surprise, I learned that Alex Dunne, both sensitive and brilliant to astonishing degrees, suffered from serious mental health issues, which garner their own chapters in the book. To be frank, I'm surprised Alex gave Griffin his blessing to write about it, given his private nature. It also makes his disappearance much more terrifying in context.Other stories that were new to me included Griffin's ill-fated first marriage, his time on the set of JOHNNY DANGEROUSLY, and his journey to the Cannes Film Festival to promote Martin Scorsese's underrated AFTER HOURS.The full title is THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB: A FAMILY MEMOIR, and his focus on family is consistent throughout. The book ends in 1990, with the birth of his daughter, Hannah, with his second wife Carey Lowell. As a result, we don't get into his directing career, which includes PRACTICAL MAGIC, FIERCE PEOPLE, and the documentary on his aunt Joan Didion. I'm crossing my fingers that another book is in the near future.In conclusion, if *I* learned a lot from THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON CLUB, so will the average reader. I can't recommend it enough.