Nora Ephron

April 1, 2022

"I'll have what she's having." That classic line comes from When Harry Met Sally, one of the best romantic comedy films ever produced, and the pen of Nora Ephron. Doidge's comprehensive and optimistic biography of the writer and film director proves Ephron's talent, ambition and drive began decades before she found her niche in films. Her parents were both Hollywood screenwriters and alcoholics. Doidge ushers readers through Ephron's formative camp experiences in Arizona, her attendance at Beverly Hills High School and Wellesley College, then through her subsequent careers in journalism, screenwriting, and film directing. Add in three husbands, one of whom--Carl Bernstein--was the subject of her successful novel and film Heartburn. Ephron was a comedic genius who truly found her milieu when she ventured into the world of filmmaking (three of her screenplays were Oscar-nominated). Life was not all rosy; as with many comedic talents, there was a lingering sadness in Ephron, which Dodge ties to the early loss of her mother who taught her that "everything is copy." VERDICT Doidge's vivacious, enthusiastic biography has serious undertones, much like Ephron herself. It will appeal to Ephron's broad swath of fans. Includes book club questions.--Penelope J. M. Klein

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April 15, 2022
A journalist recounts the life of a groundbreaking director. Few careers were as varied and successful as that of Nora Ephron (1941-2012). Born in New York City but raised in Beverly Hills, she graduated from Wellesley in 1962. Shortly thereafter, she moved to NYC to be a "mail girl" at Newsweek, where a member of the old guard told her, "Women don't become writers at Newsweek." Of course, Ephron became much more, writing iconic essays for Esquire and New York magazine before publishing Heartburn (1983), an autobiographical novel about her torturous marriage to her second husband, Carl Bernstein. She then worked in Hollywood, first as the screenwriter of Silkwood and When Harry Met Sally... before directing hits like Sleepless in Seattle. In a breezy narrative, Doidge summarizes Ephron's career. Clearly a fan, she doesn't always see the context around her subject. Ephron became a director at age 50, an accomplishment that, according to Doidge, "helped us to see that it's never too late to go after your dreams." True, but it surely didn't hurt Ephron to have grown up a "child of 'the business' " with, among many other connections, Oscar-nominated screenwriters for parents. Occasionally, the author makes jarringly trivializing comments. For example, during the Cuban missile crisis, Ephron "was confronting a crisis of her own: how to emerge from behind the city desk to become the writer she'd always known she could be." Later, she mentions "author John Gregory Dunne and his wife Joan Didion." However, Ephron fans will appreciate details of her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated industry. A perfectionist like most directors, she had trouble getting the crew to bring her a specific brand of cream soda on the set of This Is My Life--she was passionate about food--and was flabbergasted when, on Bewitched, a prop man brought the wrong kind of muffins for a scene. Those were minor complaints, perhaps, but complaints that male directors wouldn't have had to register. A cheerful view of an acclaimed filmmaker.

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June 1, 2022
Essayist, journalist, novelist, director, writer for screen and stage. Ephron could do it all, including keep a secret. When she was diagnosed with an uncommon form of leukemia in 2006, even some family members were unaware how seriously ill she was. Her death at 71 in 2012 shocked the entertainment world and saddened the legion of fans who devoured her candid memoirs about love and aging or broke out the popcorn for her infectiously charming rom-coms. The ever-hopeful yet fiercely determined Ephron was celebrated for the light touch she brought to even the darkest of subjects, including, famously, her own divorces and, tragically, impending death. Although often glossing over this glossiest of lives, Doidge's biography will satisfy true Ephron admirers by revisiting favorite movies, dishing backstory details, and serving up insider peeks at her personal life. Those unfamiliar with Ephron's oeuvre will be enticed to learn more as award-winning journalist Doidge hits the highlights of Ephron's multifaceted career in a biography that is both breezy and substantial.

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