Over Christmas break I finished reading Then Again by Diane Keaton. It is definitely a vulnerable memoir on Keaton’s part. She delves into everything from her mother’s fight with Alzheimers to her own struggles with self esteem. It is a simultaneous telling of the story of her life and her mothers. It was as though Diane Keaton felt she must tell Dorothy Hall’s story since her mother hadn’t really had the chance to tell it herself.

They were both incredible artists, but their creativity came out in different ways.

“Mom loved adages, quotes, slogans. There were always little reminders pasted on the kitchen wall. For example, the word THINK. I found THINK thumbtacked on a bulletin board in her darkroom. I saw it Scotch-taped on a pencil box she’d collaged. I even found a pamphlet titled THINK on her bedside table. Mom liked to THINK.”

Throughout the book there is definitely a sad undertone and Keaton does not shy away from really raw and painful scenes such as her mothers passing. A wise person I know once said that each person should see a death and a birth every year of their life, and then they would live quite differently. In a way this feels like what Keaton is trying to do in her writing, wake us up, even if she isn’t sure what we are be awakened to. There is a longing for more than what she has experienced in her life so far… And yet she is a woman who has accomplished so much. Her book is one that will make you think.

See more about what I am reading here: http://frequencyofwords.tumblr.com/