Hidden Connections

There is plenty of lore when it comes to books. Margaret Mitchell wrote the last chapter of Gone With The Wind first. Kathryn Stockett’s The Help got sixty agent rejections before someone signed her. Mr. American Psycho himself Bret Easton Ellis was a mentor to Donna Tartt.

Some trivia is a little less known. Here are some hidden connections between projects.

1.

A seminal memoir about the sudden loss of her husband, Joan Didion’s book got a lot of attention when it was published in 2005. I was riveted by their marriage of minds and the sad story of their daughter Quintana Roo.

Throughout the book, Joan mentions brother-in-law Nic. Nic is journalist and author Dominic Dunne, whose daughter Dominique played the older daughter in 80s horror hit Poltergeist. (I saw it twice at my hometown theater.) Dominique was tragically murdered by her boyfriend. She was Joan Didion’s niece.

2.

Speaking of aunts, Lisa Brennan-Jobs was raised by a single mother in Silicon Valley, firmly in the shadow of her famous and eccentric father. Her aunt Mona, her father’s sister, shows up occasionally. She seems glamorous and cool despite a pesky habit of observing people around her and putting them in her fiction.

Steve Jobs and Mona Simpson were blood siblings who didn’t grow up together. After putting their son up for adoption, the parents stayed together and had a daughter. Mona eventually reconnected with her sibling enough to have a role in his kids’ lives.

3.

Ghostwriters are nothing new, but they seem to be more high profile these days. There is good money in writing the life stories of well known people.

As a Gen Xer, I grew up with the Brat Pack headlining the popcorn flicks that were playing at the same local theater I saw Poltergeist in. A lot of them — Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald — have faded from public view since the ’80s. The exceptions seem to be writing books or starring on TV shows now. Demi Moore’s memoir was one I probably would have read anyway, but I was surprised at how well-written it was. The pages flew by as I read about her childhood, early marriages, and eventual betrayal by Ashton Kutcher.

No wonder: it turns out it was written by New Yorker journalist Ariel Levy, whose own memoir The Rules Do Not Apply is one of my all-time favorites. (It’s on my top 25 list.) I’m glad I didn’t know that when I read Moore’s book. Finding it out was a nice little surprise.