Brother & Sister

by Diane Keaton

From the beloved film star and best-selling author of Then Again: a heartfelt memoir about her relationship with her younger brother, and a poignant exploration of the divergent paths siblings' lives can take.

When they were children in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the 1950s, Diane Keaton and her younger brother, Randy, were best friends and companions: they shared stories at night in their bunk beds; they swam, laughed, dressed up for Halloween. Their mother captured their American-dream childhoods in her diaries, and on camera. But as they grew up, Randy became troubled, then reclusive. By the time he reached adulthood, he was divorced, an alcoholic, a man who couldn't hold on to full-time work--his life a world away from his sister's, and from the rest of their family.

Now Diane is delving into the nuances of their shared, and separate, pasts to confront the difficult question of why and how Randy ended up living his life on "the other side of normal." In beautiful and fearless prose that's intertwined with photographs, journal entries, letters, and poetry--many of them Randy's own writing and art--this insightful memoir contemplates the inner workings of a family, the ties that hold it together, and the special bond between siblings even when they are pulled far apart. Here is a story about love and responsibility: about how, when we choose to reach out to the people we feel closest to--in moments of difficulty and loss--surprising things can happen. A story with universal echoes, Brother & Sister will speak across generations to families whose lives have been touched by the fragility and "otherness" of loved ones--and to brothers and sisters everywhere.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography, Biography Memoir, Family, Mental Illness

176 pages, Hardcover

First published February 4, 2020

About the author

Diane Keaton (born Diane Hall) was an Academy Award-winning American film actress. Her first major film role was Kay Adams-Corleone in The Godfather movies. She starred with director and co-star Woody Allen in "Play It Again, Sam," "Sleeper," "Love and Death," "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan." She starred in many other films and worked as a director, producer, and screenwriter.

A number of books of her photography have been published.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Keaton

Award winning actress Diane Keaton grew up with her parents, a brother, and two sisters in the Los Angeles area. Diane's mother, Dorothy Hall, was a homemaker and amateur photographer who enjoyed chronicling her children's lives; and Diane's father, Jack Hall, was a successful civil engineer.


Diane Keaton's parents, Dorothy and Jack Hall


Diane Keaton (second from left) with her brother, sisters, and mother

Diane has written previous memoirs about her life and devotes this book largely to her brother Randy, who suffered from mental health problems all his life. Diane provides a compelling account of a family with a troubled member, and laments not always helping Randy as much as she could.

Diane, the oldest child, was born in 1946 and her brother Randy came along two years later.


Diane Keaton and her brother Randy Hall as toddlers

As youngsters, Diane and Randy shared a room, and Diane recalls, "For many years, when we were young, I saw Randy as an inexplicable burden. He was a nuisance, a scaredy-cat, and a crybaby. As we got older, he became an absent presence. I avoided him as my life got busier while his got smaller and more difficult."


Diane Keaton and her brother Randy Hall as small children

More recently, Diane perused her mother's journals, scrapbooks, photos, clippings, and letters, which allowed her to see Randy from a different perspective. Diane notes, "I've gotten closer to who he is and what he means to me", and she writes, "Dear, dear Randy, I do love you."

Unlike Diane, Dorothy saw Randy as a sensitive soul, though her view was likely clouded by mother love. Some of the entries in Dorothy's journals read, "Randy is just the kind of little boy I think all boys should be....His little temper explosions are very infrequent....He plays by himself in the house.....Randy won't attend Sunday school unless I go and stay with him....he [has a ] tendency to tag after me at all times....he's too frightened....even on hot nights he insists I put a blanket on him 'To keep the dark out'." In retrospect, these behaviors foreshadowed Randy's later problems, though his mother always believed he had promise.


Schoolboy Randy Hall

Diane recalls that as a pre-adolescent, "Randy [always] retreated to his bedroom. It was there that his preteen fantasies took form."


Adolescent Randy Hall

When Randy grew up, he wrote Diane a letter describing his youthful fantasy life. It read, in part: "In puberty I started getting fantasies...I became addicted to watching horror movies, hoping the films would have some gruesome murder of a woman....I'll never forget the day I found the Playboy magazine....I looked inside and saw a woman with all this cleavage leaning against a fence...the fantasies [it fueled] were startling and violent. When I thought about sex it was always with a knife....You can't imagine what it's like to actually start planning how to get a pretty woman and kill her....My fantasies are even worse now, but at least I now know they're fantasies."


Teenage Randy Hall

Some of Randy's troubles may have arisen from a dysfunctional relationship with his father. Jack Hall was an ambitious, hard-working man who expected his children to follow in his footsteps. Jack wanted his offspring to study hard, work hard, and become successful. However, young Randy was a frightened boy who hid in his room and adult Randy was a frightened man who wrote poems, made collages, and couldn't hold down a job.


Randy Hall as a young man

Jack constantly reprimanded and pushed his son, and - in Randy's eyes - Jack was a VERY scary man. An indulgent mother and hard-driving father may have contributed to Randy's anxiety and confusion.

Despite Randy's troubles, he did manage to sustain a relationship long enough to get married. Randy and his wife Sally split after a couple of years, though, and Randy became more withdrawn than ever..... and a serious alcoholic. Randy drank hard for the rest of his life, and required a liver transplant at one point. The operation was A-listed because of Diane's fame and resources, and - in truth - there may have been a more deserving recipient for the liver.....but that's the way of the world.

Randy was a creative soul, and Diane includes some of his poems, letters, writings, and collages to illustrate her brother's thoughts and abilities. Sadly, Randy wasn't able to channel his talents into a successful career.


A collage by Randy Hall

Despite psychiatric care - and family members helping when they could - Randy's life was a long downhill slide, lubricated by constant drinking. When Randy could no longer live alone - even with caregivers - he was moved to an assisted living facility. By then, Diane was reconciled with her brother. She writes, "Randy and I began to develop a weekend ritual. Down the block and across the street from the Belmont [assistant living home] was a Foster's Freeze, home to our very favorite soft-serve vanilla cone with nuts on top. Once we had them in our hands, we'd get into my car and tool around Burbank, looking for a neighborhood we wanted to explore."


Foster's Freeze



See's candy

Diane also includes sections about other family members: her sisters Robin and Dorrie, who helped Randy as much as they could; and her parents, who disagreed about Randy, and - perhaps as a result - drank and fought too much. Still, the Hall family was a loving clan that made good memories together, though Randy was unable to share in most of them.

This is a compelling story that might help other families gain insight into a troubled individual in their midst.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to write Randy's story, and my story of being his sister, because there are so many people who live through the sorrow and pain of not knowing how to manage a family member who has a singularly unique view of life: a sibling who doesn't fit in or follow the paths the rest of us take; who challenges and bewilders, upsets and dazzles us; who scares some of us away; but who still loves us, in his or her way.

Initial disclosure: I have no particular interest (or disinterest) in Diane Keaton, haven't especially followed (or avoided) her work as an actor, and haven't read her other memoirs; Brother & Sister was simply one of the books making up a stack of ARCs I was able to bring into self-isolation. Having said that, I wonder if I would have connected with this more if I felt more connected to Diane Keaton herself – this is quite a personal narrative of her own family, without a lot of introspection or universality, and while she states that her purpose in writing this was to investigate the sources of her younger brother's demons, I don't know if she found any answers; I certainly don't know how this would help others who are trying to understand difficult sibling relationships in their own lives. So: not really for me, maybe for another. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Pinpointing a mental illness is like finding a needle in a haystack. I wouldn't want to be part of a team that labels the most complex organ of our body with a name. Randy was not a category, and medicine is not an exact science. Part of his saving grace came from the outlet he found in expression, whether it was seemingly negative – visualizing women in sadomasochistic positions – or something aiming for transcendence: writing lyrical poems on the wonder of birds.

Early on, we learn that Diane Keaton's mother kept photo albums, journals, and scrapbooks her entire adult life, chronicling her husband's successful professional career and the lives of her four children. Although her only son, Randy, was sensitive and introverted right from the start, he was the apple of his mother's eye, and even as his teenaged and then early adult years didn't follow traditional paths, his mother encouraged Randy's emerging art and desire to be alone. As Randy lived out the end of his days in a memory care facility, Diane had access to all of her brother's journals, collages, and poetry, and along with her mother's documents, she went looking for clues about what went wrong with Randy's life – and it doesn't look like she really found it (and especially because her mother tried to put the rosiest spin on everything she recorded). Diane mentions that Randy took medication for bipolar disorder, that he was once diagnosed as a “schizoid type” (which she disagreed with), and even hints that his brain may have been damaged by forceps during childbirth – but as Diane left her California hometown for an acting career in NYC right out of high school, it doesn't seem that she was present for the long years of intervention and heartache that the rest of her family faced in trying to support Randy, and I didn't get the sense that she ever really understood what his problems were; she went looking for the answers in her mother's and brother's writings – and there are many interesting bits excerpted from each of them – but she didn't really find any answers there.

Of interest: When Randy – a lifelong and unrepentant alcoholic – was in the end stages of liver disease, his other two sisters asked Diane if she would call the transplant centre (who were, understandably, not willing to put Randy's name on a transplant list as he refused to stop drinking) and use her celebrity to change their minds. That call, and a sizeable donation from their rich father's estate, put Randy on the list – and while he did end up getting a liver, and soon after started drinking again, he did live for something like another twenty years. On the one hand, you hate to hear about money and fame bending such life-altering rules, but even though he ended up being tough on that new liver, it certainly wasn't “wasted” on him.

And also: In a passage quoted from their mother's scrapbook, she describes seeing Annie Hall for the first time, which Mrs Hall (for that is Diane Keaton's actual family name) described as, “a love story, covering six years in the life of Woody Allen and Diane Hall Keaton.” And while she was touched by Diane's performance, she was less amused by the depiction of their family in the Easter dinner scene (although she did like Christopher Walken's portrayal of Randy as “a sensitive person with a unique personality.”) So, as an added bonus for the self-isolating, I convinced the family to watch Annie Hall with me after I finished reading this book, and even if Woody Allen apparently bristles at anyone suggesting that there's anything autobiographical in this film, the “Can I confess something” scene (found here on YouTube) – which shows a mentally disturbed young man, complete with strange collages on his bedroom wall – sure looks like Woody Allen interacting with (and kind of cruelly dismissing) the brother that Diane Keaton describes here. Funny that she allowed this.

How had Randy come to find himself sitting in a rental on the wrong side of the Pacific Coast Highway, bordering on old age? How had I, the eldest of four Southern California kids who grew up in the 1950s, become an ambitious eccentric who couldn't stop worrying? There was something about Randy traipsing around his apartment that reminded me to try to let go. No matter how truncated and seemingly lost, Randy was fine, living his life with a mind let loose. Sitting across from him, I thought: There is no scale tipped in either direction that can measure the worth of one person over another. All of us are, as Randy put it best, “a blink between here and never.”

And of course, that's the only possible conclusion: Randy may not have been able to hold down a job or return his mother's affection, he may have caused decades of worry for the rest of the family, but he never hurt anyone but himself, and his life of uncelebrated art and poetry is as valuable as any. I hope Diane Keaton worked out what she needed to with this book, but I really think this is of more value to her than to the general public. Happy to have finally seen Annie Hall all the way through though.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a poignant memoir about the author's family and their difficulties with her brother Randy. By sharing her mother's journal entries, Randy's poems, and a letter she'd written to Randy years ago, Keaton tells about their lives and struggles. This memoir truly brings to light both what it's like to live with mental illness and the weight of it on those who love and care for them. At the core of this memoir, is the love and loyalty of this family for each other.

I enjoy reading memoirs because it's a way of learning about others' lives and experiences. In this case, I learned a lot from this fairly short book. Also, whenever a memoir is read by the author I opt for the audiobook as was the case here. I recommend the audiobook, just keep in mind this memoir gets pretty dark at times.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"For many years, when we were young, I saw Randy as an inexplicable burden. He was a nuisance, a scaredy-cat, and a cry-baby. As we got older, he became an absent presence. I avoided him as my life got busier while his got smaller and more difficult." -- Diane Keaton, on page 5

Actress Keaton - and she'll always be 'Kay Adams-Corleone' (The Godfather trilogy) to me - presents a memoir that focuses on her younger brother Randy. Randy was definitely the 'black sheep' of the siblings (which also includes two younger sisters) - although a quiet self-styled poet and artist, he otherwise appeared to lack basic motivation and happiness in regards to the family's upper-middle class lifestyle. What eventually becomes clear, several decades into his life, is that he is affected by alcoholism and a schizoid personality disorder. While Keaton admits she missed a large portion of his life - during her silver-screen success in the 70's and 80's she resided in New York, while her brother remained in California - she and her sisters eventually have to place him in assisted-living care.

I feel guilty typing this, but the plainspoken book was a little dry and underwhelming in the first 100 or so pages. (It doesn't help that Randy is sort of an elusive character, and some of his thoughts - expressed in his poetry - are downright weird or uncomfortable.) However, once the sisters step in to assist him, when he begins to experience problematic health issues in his 60's, the narrative becomes more involving. It also illustrates that unique position of being part of the so-called 'sandwich generation,' as the ladies were raising their own young children while also additionally dealing with their ailing elderly mother at the time, too. So while not necessarily a must-read, Brother & Sister effectively presents some of the messiness of being part of a late 20th century family.

[Chaitra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn’t feeling much of anything within 10 pages of this book, but it was short so I read on anyway. It’s fine to write a book about your troubled brother if you’re Diane Keaton and you find yourself with access to said brother’s papers, but I found it kind of icky as I read on. Not just because I don’t know how an approval would have been sought or given - brother Randy is in advanced stages of dementia right now. But also because Keaton didn’t really have a relationship with Randy to speak of.

She distanced herself from the family drama, and I don’t blame her for it, as it sounded toxic. But because she did so, Randy is a mystery. Before she begins alluding to Randy’s mental illness, I just thought he was a headstrong child with an issue with his father. Which I know does not mean that he was a-okay, just that it’s not signaled very well. Because of no Diane in the picture, and having to rely on her mother and sisters’ letters, mom having carefully curated her writing to show only positive things. I think one of the other sisters should have written this book, merely because she was around for more of Randy’s life.

[Marika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actress Diane Keaton writes a transparent memoir about growing up in the 1950's and the closeness between her and her younger brother Randy. Randy was her best friend growing up, which is evidenced by the many diaries and journal that their mother kept. But were the diaries a true reflection of their childhood or were they driven by a mother's love and her desire to see her son as a healthy, functioning adult? Because Randy was anything but healthy and & functioning. He was a troubled man, whose inner torments drove him to drink and isolate himself. This memoir is the poetic reflection of a childhood by a loving sister who chooses to take the deep dive into family history for the real truth.

* I read an advance copy and was not compensated.

[Susan Coster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very tearful book about the relationship between Diane Keaton and her younger brother, John Randolph Hall, known as Randy. I am still choked up after finishing this beautiful memoir tonight. As kids, Randy and Diane were close but as he grew up, Randy became troubled and never quite fit in the world, becoming an alcoholic and relying on their parents for support. As Diane looks back upon her life with Randy, she includes journal entries, letters, photographs and artwork. This is her tribute to Randy, and, most importantly, as an advocate for mental health consciousness. Pick it up - with tissues.

[Katie Ninivaggi · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be perfectly candid, if the author wasn’t a celebrity, I doubt this book would be getting any attention- or possibly even published. It has its moments, like near the end when Keaton describes her own guilt at not helping her brother when they were both younger. Overall, it reads liked strung together captions to photos and home movies; a lot of gaps and very little exploration of the nature of mental illness.

[Joshie Nicole readwithjoshie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book in a Goodreads contest.

This was a short, easy read with many honest and reflective passages. It is a book about Keaton’s relationship with her brother, sprinkled with some anecdotes about her other family members.

This memoir was just okay for me. Keaton felt removed from her family, and she was seemingly able to write so intimately about all of the times they experienced while she was away filming because she had access to her families letters and poems. It felt a little intrusive to me.

At the time of publishing, her brother Randy, the subject of the book, was in late stage dementia. So, I do not know if she printed these stories (most paint Randy in a strange and poor light, in my opinion) with or without his permission. I felt uncomfortable about that.

Her writing is okay, a bit too lyrical and trite at times. I am glad it was short enough to get through before I grew tired of her style. Unless you’re a die hard Keaton fan, or you have a strong interest in dementia, alcoholism, or stories about brothers or sisters, I’d say give it a pass.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't fault Diane Keaton for loving her brother, but between Randy's sadistic thoughts of violence and the donated liver he didn't even try to take care of, I just couldn't fathom why she'd want to write about him. It turns out I really didn't want to read about him.

[Faye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someday, I will not be able to remember if this book was real or a really strange dream I had about Diane Keaton…

[Andrea Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book read by Diane Keaton. This hit very close to home as I witnessed my dad’s relationship with his mentally ill brother as I grew up. He was very similar to Diane’s brother minus the alcoholism. I helped care for him at the end of his life and it was hard, but as a family we embraced the joy and good that was in his life as we watched him take his last breath. Diane expresses all the emotions, guilt, joy, and disappointment that going through life with a sibling like this was like. I had many tears because it resonated so much. Family is so important. Siblings are so special and to love them through all these trials is worth it.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know, I would have picked up this book regardless of the author because I find sibling interaction endlessly fascinating. The fact that Diane Keaton is an interesting person herself was a fortuitous bonus.

I remember learning nature vs nurture in college, and that biological siblings can be very different from each other once the similar environment (childhood home) is removed and they go on to live their own lives.

Diane Keaton's short memoir displays a rather extreme case of genes vs environment. It is more a case of opposites - for every success in her career, every upward move, her brother Randy had a nearly equal downturn. It's simply written, a record of mental illness, but also family duty and taking care of your own.

Diane did a lot more than I would have done for someone who displayed the anger, substance abuse and paranoia of her brother. She and her sisters cared for him together, kept him alive longer than he could have done by himself. It was a thankless job and I'll be honest, as a sibling I don't know that I'd do that. But they all did.

More than anything I felt a bit validated - that certain themes in families are universal, and the only thing that might vary is which end of the stick you get. And even that is down to being in the right place at the right time, and responding just the right way.

Nature, indeed.

For such a short story it packs a thought provoking punch. 4 stars.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a beautiful memoir, and I highly recommend it. I do think Keaton could have dug deeper within herself (perhaps in therapy) to relay more about her experiences of physical separation, emotional distance, and detachment, as well as how those may have saved her sanity and also contribute toward her feelings of guilt. That felt like a nucleus of the book that never got off the ground, and I was ultimately dissatisfied with her revelations. That said, it’s still a fantastic read, and I’ll probably read it again someday (high praise from me).

[Greta Sutherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know her as spunky, eccentric, quirky and free-spirited. We love her fashion sense and decorating expertise and admire her longevity in film.⠀

Her newest book, BROTHER AND SISTER, gives a rare, inside look into the upbringing of Diane and her younger siblings, Randy, Robin and Dorrie. This book focuses on the complicated relationship with her brother, two years her junior. Diane and Randy were born in a typical 1950’s middle-class home to a doting mother and a hard-working father. As their family income increased, so did the size of their homes and their family unit.⠀

Randy is a deeply passionate poet (many of his beautiful works are woven within the book) and an artist with an equally complicated mind. Creative genius is often disguised as ‘disturbed’ or ‘peculiar’ and such was the life that Randy led. Succumbing to alcohol as a task-master, Randy’s familial relationships crumbled. ⠀

What is the responsibility of a family member when another continually pushes you away? This is a common question asked by all matters of families. As Keaton’s career began to rise, she shares of the extreme difficulties and loss she was experiencing in her family home. She wrote of specific movies (movies I have watched and loved) and what was simultaneously going on with her family. I see the movies in a completely different light now, imagining the difficulty she must have had while trying to work PLUS care for extended family members.

As so many of us are want to do, she asks herself if she did enough. Was I too closed-off? Should I have done more? Questions that haunt many of us while dealing with dysfunction of any kind.

I read this book in just a few sittings, but it is not an easy read. Keaton’s voice is heard within each story regaled. Her awkward optimism evident throughout. As a reader it is a bit jolting when we fully realize how ‘everyday’ our on-screen heroes are. This book shines a spotlight on that truth. ⠀

Perhaps this book will help you better understand that you are not alone. That family is not always easy and yet, as the years climb, our desire for understanding and our acceptance of reality reaches a more peaceful coexistence.⠀

I appreciate Keaton’s willingness to lift the veil on such a beautifully entangled area of her life. I am certain many will find a sense of commonality among her words.

[Cátia Vieira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Knopf for gifting me this copy. When I found out Diane Keaton was releasing a memoir, I wanted to read it. I feel conflicted by some of her attitudes but I also admire her work as an actress. So, there I was, intrigued by this book and the woman who was writing it. From the book title, I expected Brother & Sister to be an exploration of her relationship with her sibling Randy. And, that’s what this book is. Not only a portrayal of their upbringing and relation as it also is a reflection of and how different their paths came to be.

I must say that I didn’t think this book was that personal. Although I could vaguely sense her pain and discomfort, it gave me the impression that Keaton likes to distance herself from problems. There was even a moment when she admits that Randy made it to the top of a liver donation list after making a big donation to the program. And she didn’t gave this much thought. On the other hand, Brother & Sister really delves into Randy’s mental illness and alcoholism and those are topics I am interested in.

For more reviews, follow me on Instagram @booksturnyouon

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sister with a mentally ill brother who haunted the family for decades in the background, unable to work and annoying everyone. I have several friends like this. The 70s, kept people from being institutionalized long term, but people had that one sibling, usually a brother who stopped working and being involved in life. Unable to easily get doctors or people to help, families a often paid for their rent and care. The sibling never got on their feet and appeared best when finally qualifying for assisted living. With money like Diane had, I’m shocked that some places allowed her to put her brother in their facility. It did turn out to be too low a standard of care. Still a commonly held path that a writer like Diane can share well through her writing and research in diaries and photography the albums. Wonderfully told. Listened to the audiobook the second time. What an excellent way to better understand the story Diane had to tell. She does a wonderful job.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not familiar with Keaton's work and picked this up solely off of word-of-mouth. Even though this is short, it was difficult to get through and I forced myself to finish the book.

I was surprised that Keaton's siblings aren't even mentioned on her Wikipedia page - the way she talks in this book makes that feel like a huge omission. That said, I really disliked this book. It is so upsetting to read not only about a mentally ill person being abandoned by their family, but by their consequent shitty behaviors being justified. It's especially troubling hearing Keaton talk about her work with Woody Allen and see the parallels in how she excuses her brother's image of women.

I came out of this book hating Randy and having no sympathy for him. This is a book that I should've put back as soon as I realized it wasn't working, but trudged through instead.

[Susanne Clower · Rating 1 out of 5]

This read like a vanity project to me. I don't think this would have been published if the author wasn't famous. There were no useful insights or reflections. It also made me angry that the famous, rich and connected author was able to get her brother a liver transplant even though he would never normally have been approved for a transplant. She is upfront about using her privilege but it is still maddening.

[Arlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book. I love Diane Keaton as an actress but as an author, she falls short. The story is somewhat disjointed and again, a good editor would have benefited this non fiction work. I am sorry for this brother of hers but it seems he did not receive the help he would have benefited from by a mental health intervention.

[Chelsea (ChelsBookStop) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Breathtakingly heartbreaking and beautiful. It reminds me of my brother and I. So many similarities. Finally, a memoir I didn't hate. In fact, I couldn't put this book down. I read it in one sitting. Yes, it is short, but you are completely immersed in Keaton memory with her. My whole body hurts from the love and loss this book holds.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meh. Keaton writes of her brother, Randy's, mental illness from her perspective.

She also includes info on her own well-known movie "Annie Hall": Hall was the family name and her maiden name. In the holiday dining room scene, the quiet young man (she explains) is exactly like her brother behaved during family gatherings. He was a recluse.

This little book seems to be written to rid her of years of guilt or something. Not sure why it was published. Hope Diane Keaton found what she was looking for when writing it, but it should have remained in her own desk.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really sad. I kept thinking that her brother was probably on the autism spectrum but never got that diagnosis. Whereas Diane succeeded beyond her wildest dreams in her chosen profession, Randy was almost extremely unsuccessful, at least in the ways a capitalistic society measures success. He had trouble with relationships and with holding any kind of job. He did, however, write beautiful, sad poetry and make lots of unconventional art his whole life.

(I got this at The Dollar Tree.)

[Pauline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think we all think the famous live lives of grandeur and problem free. Diane Keaton’s story is incredibly sad...no one is immune! Diane is not embarrassed to discuss and share with us the dysfunctional family she comes from. She strips Randy naked when telling her readers about him and his years of torment. A truly human story that I’m sure many can relate to. Such a fragile story to share with all
Of us!

[Briana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Linde · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 ⭐

[Dominic Polsinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute Lil read, v relatable, love you Diane ❤️

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sad story about a brother's mental illness and its effect on his family.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As THEN AGAIN seemed a love letter to her mother, Diane Keaton writes this as one to her brother. After reading both one sees her as the caring, observant and articulate person that she is... a surprise for some of us who saw her, once, as just another ditzy Hollywood character.

[Linda Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t typically like to read memoirs by actors but Brother & Sister by Diane Keaton intrigued me. It is a mystery how kids from the same family (whether or not dysfunctional) can turn out so differently. I see these situations regularly and it remains a conundrum to me how siblings, while raised in the same environment, chose opposite life paths. Ms. Keaton does a good job of trying to present her family dynamics truthfully and I enjoyed the read. A very successful actress and a hopelessly alcoholic brother makes for interesting reading and I appreciate Keaton’s desire to figure it all out for herself. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ #memoir #family #familydynamics #dsyfunctional #alcoholism @diane_keaton #brother&sister #book #reading #books #bookstagram #read #bookworm #booklover #bibliophile #reader #bookshelf #novel #booksofinstagram #booklovers #ilovebooks #fiction #bookish #book #bibliophile #lindaleereads2020 #mmdbookclub #mmd