Don't You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes [Paperback]

Jaime Clarke (Editor), Ally Sheedy (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: March 6, 2007

No one captured the teen portion of the eighties as poignantly as writer-director John Hughes. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful are timeless tales of love, angst, longing, and self-discovery that illuminated and assuaged the anxieties of an entire generation.

Fondly nostalgic, filled with wit and surprising insights, don't you forget about me contains original essays from a skillfully chosen crop of novelists and essayists on the films' far-reaching effects on their own lives -- an irresistible read for anyone who came of age in the eighties (or just wishes they did).

Featuring new writing from:

Steve Almond * Julianna Baggott * Lisa Borders * Ryan Boudinot * T Cooper * Quinn Dalton * Emily Franklin * Lisa Gabriele * Tod Goldberg * Nina de Gramont * Tara Ison * Allison Lynn * John McNally * Dan Pope * Lewis Robinson * Ben Schrank * Elizabeth Searle * Mary Sullivan * Rebecca Wolff * Moon Unit Zappa

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The angst-ridden films of John Hughes remain vital viewing to a generation of writers old enough to have seen The Breakfast Club in theaters, and this collection of musings from 20 such contributors could be too much of a good thing for even die-hard Hughes fans. Standouts include Steve Almond's essay about his late-blooming infatuation with Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Ryan Boudinot's dissection of Weird Science (it's "a masturbation fantasy for boys who haven't yet figured out how to masturbate"). Most contributors, however, approach the same films (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Bueller) from similar, fawning perspectives, and the unfortunate result is a pile-up of overthought but underdeveloped essays with an ironic high school term paper sensibility. Elizabeth Searle, for example, pens a lengthy discourse about Molly Ringwald's scream in Sixteen Candles, and Mary Sullivan likens practically any Hughes film to Cinderella. Readers who, like the contributors, feel indebted to Hughes for enlightening their adolescence, may want to pick this up and spot read it.
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About the Author

Jaime Clarke is the author of the novel We're So Famous, published in 2001. He is a cofounder of Post Road, a national literary magazine based out of New York and Boston, and teaches creative writing at Emerson College in Boston.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416934448
• ISBN-13: 978-1416934448
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Surprised and disappointed at the same time. March 2, 2010

By missus jones

Format:Paperback

I bought this book expecting something different, perhaps it's my own fault for not reading the cover too carefully, but this is NOT a discourse on the John Hughes films, it's a batch of selected writings on how the John Hughes films mattered to the various writers at different points in their lives.

The book turned out to be quite interesting and well written, but I still found myself wishing it were actually about the films themselves. Hopefully one day that book will come out!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't you Forget about Me book September 17, 2009

By Sakiller Films

Format:Paperback

This book is great for any John Hughes movie lover, out there. However, I bought this book without previewing it was slightly disappointed. The book is made up of memoires from people who've been influenced by Hughes and his movies. It's more a recollection of their past and their childhood, rather than focusing on Hughes. for awhile it was the only book out there that dealt with Only John Hughes movies, however, recently more books have been published about this AMAZING director.

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book on my favorite 80s actors May 1, 2013

By Casey K. Conrad

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very informative and fun to read about 80s actors and John Hughes' films. Quite informative about this classic era in time.