You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation Book

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a book this much!

This was an exceptional read! Susannah Gora obviously has mad affection for these movies and my God, it shows!

I'm thirty something and remember with startling clarity seeing The Breakfast Club for the first time. I was drawn in slowly, recognising and cringing over the awkwardness of the high school setting (I was living it, albeit in London England), yet waiting for the focus of the film to shift. It didn't. It stayed with the kids and over the course of the movie (one day on narrative terms), it made me laugh, recoil, shrivel, cry and cheer. It truly is a cult classic worthy of shameful adoration.

I'm a devotee of eighties movies, tried and true. It was a time when studios took chances on new writers and directors and backed CONCEPTS and STORIES, not merely chased the sequel buck or played safe. At least, that's the way it seemed. John Hughes loomed large in that arena and not without good reason. A master storyteller, capable of writing contemporary tales so utterly relatable, the international world could believe in it's characters; 'we all knew someone like THAT' and so compelling, they seemed to stay with you forever.

In the eighties, a clutch of movies rose above the cream and came to symbolise a yearning, if not a meaning, a soulful purpose if not a clear intent. A clever journalist throw-a-way term, 'Brat Pack' was swiftly applied to the handful of actors involved in these big box office hits and it stuck, solidifying a genre and time while hindering the careers of all involved. It's a time many look back on now with nostalgia but for the actors, it has taken time to come to terms with. Nowadays, we all know the media love their labels, splicing couples' names together in garish monikers, and we accept it, but things were different in the eighties.

Susannah Gora's book scores HUGE not only because it is drenched in nostalgic love for these films, it is painstakingly researched, astonishingly insightful and shamefully indulgent. Each sentimental movie gains it's own chapter (a structure I found most pleasing!) and boasts a plethora of behind the scenes trivia that truly tickled me throughout! I love behind the scenes info on how movies are made and this book fed me to gluttony!

If you're not a fan of these movies, I'd be reluctant to recommend this book.

You may wonder what all the fuss is about, but if you have never wondered what the naked blonde with a poodle under one arm and a two ton salami under the other said to the bartender, this wasn't for you anyway.

I will be reading this again!

(Not to mention anything of that GORGEOUS artwork on front and back! That's how you publish a book!)