Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind
Category: Books,History,Americas
Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind Details
Review “Twenty years after his death, River Phoenix remains as enigmatic and elusive as ever. Last Night at the Viper Room tells the heart-shredding story of how this haunted actor left such a big impression in such a brief time.” (Rob Sheffield, New York Times bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape)“What Edwards does do impeccably is reveal the life of an extraordinary young man, whose idealism and dedication to his family, despite crippling childhood conditions, set him apart from the rest of the rising star pack.” (USA Today) Read more From the Back Cover At the dawn of the 1990s, a new crew of leading men—Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Keanu Reeves, and Brad Pitt—was rocketing toward stardom. River Phoenix, however, stood in front of the pack. But behind Phoenix's talent and beautiful public face was a young man who had been raised in a cult by nonconformist parents, who was burdened with supporting his family from a young age, and who eventually succumbed to addiction, dying of an overdose in front of the Viper Room, West Hollywood's storied club, at twenty-three.Last Night at the Viper Room is part biography, part cultural history of the 1990s, and part celebration of a Hollywood icon gone too soon. Full of interviews from his fellow actors, directors, friends, and family, Last Night at the Viper Room shows the role River Phoenix played in creating the place of the actor in our modern culture and the impact his work still makes today. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
Reviews
This biography started out strong, but lost its way about midway through the book, when the focus shifts from River Phoenix to other cultural personalities that happened to be famous at the same time as him. The author frequently inserts anecdotes about other celebrities that River had met at one point in his life. Oftentimes the chapters begin this way (paraphrasing); River will move somewhere or begin work on another movie, and then at the same time, John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers will enter rehab, Brad Pitt will make his big break into film, Johnny Depp will buy the Viper Room club, and so on. I think I understand what the author was trying to do, to set the scene and context for River's rise to stardom (part of the subtitle is "...and the Hollywood He Left Behind"), but it doesn't quite work. It only serves to derail the narrative away from River, and makes for an overall disjointed read.The strongest and most fleshed-out part of the book is the beginning, which deals with River's childhood. I enjoyed reading about his parents and siblings--it's a credit to all of the Phoenix siblings that they were able to be successful, despite their chaotic childhood and their parents' using them as the family breadwinners. I would've loved to have heard more from River's brother and sisters in their own words, in the form of quotes, but maybe they were unwilling to speak to the author. If only the author could've kept the momentum going through River's short adult life, without cluttering up the narrative with interviews, quotes, and side stories about personalities that didn't have much, if anything, to do with River.Also, there was a fairly big error that stuck out to me. The author says that Rosie O'Donnell starred in "Hocus Pocus," when in fact the actress is Kathy Najimy. Rosie O'Donnell was originally offered the role, but she turned it down. Nevertheless, this should've been flagged by an editor.
