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Last Night At The Viper Room: River Phoenix And The Hollywood He Left Behind (2013)

by Gavin Edwards(Favorite Author)

3.63 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0062273159 (ISBN13: 9780062273154)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

It Books

review 1: The book itself is good. It's an honest biography of River Phoenix that was compiled via various articles and interviews from both River himself and his friends and costars. I never really understood the appeal of River Phoenix, but I also never understood the appeal of James Dean. I guess that's what happens when someone dies young, there is always that question of what might have been, and completely ignoring the crap that was. River was never a huge star, he was a pretty boy who was forced into the limelight, who had no passion for and only made two decent movies in his life. I admit that I've only seen one or two of his movies, but it was nothing to write home about. In all honestly, the book just seemed to portray the Phoenix family as lazy and unable to fend for them... moreselves, which is why they forced River and their other children to get into show business and be their meal tickets. It also paints River as horribly pretentious, going on and on about his healthy vegan lifestyle while killing himself with drugs and booze. I guess it's a shame that nobody seemed to care about him enough to force him to get help, but it's understandable, since the only people who could have done that were his family, and they were all dependent on him for support. His whole life just seems like such a waste, and I don't think that's what the author is going for, but at the same time I'm glad he did write the book. It shows just how sad his life really was. It wasn't dramatic, it wasn't interesting, it was just short and sad and that's how he should be remembered, as a sad pretentious drug addict who was too full of himself to get help. He was not a martyr, he was an addict.
review 2: I mostly skimmed through this book, to be honest. Most of it was boring and annoying. I fell in love with River (as many did) the first time I saw him act. I wanted to read this for that reason. Unfortunately, this was more about the writer's dislike for the Phoenix family (not that I thought their choices were great), the Viper Room (and Johnny Depp), and Young Hollywood in the 90s. It did nothing, but anger me, make me cry, and really make me want to watch my entire River collection. less

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