I am a HUGE Dirty Dancing fan. I remember going to the movie at the theatre. I was in love with Patrick Swayze…I thought Jennifer Grey was so wonderful with hair that I would have loved to have. I loved the coming-of-age story. I’ve loved this so much that I’ve rewatched it several times, which normally I never do, and I’ve seen it as a play.
When I saw that Jennifer Grey had a memoir out, I knew I just had to read it. The book is Out of the Corner by Jennifer Grey.
The beginning of the book almost had me stop reading. Well, not the first part…the first part about her nose had me interested. Then there is so much drug abuse and risky behavior that it was turning me off. She was name-dropping and all of the names she dropped were people I didn’t know as they were older Hollywood people. My interest was bottoming out and I thought I wouldn’t finish the book.
Then the book got to the 1980s and I found it much more interesting and I was really glad that I had stuck with it. I was a busy mom in the late 80s and early 90s with little kids. I had no idea that she was friends with MaDonna and that she dated  Michael J. Fox, Johnny Depp, William Baldwin, and George Stephanopoulos. All of this I did find interesting…but most interesting to me were the struggles she went through with her appearance.
Here is what Amazon had to say:
“In this beautiful, close-to-the bone account, Jennifer Grey takes readers on a vivid tour of the experiences that have shaped her, from her childhood as the daughter of Broadway and film legend Joel Grey, to the surprise hit with Patrick Swayze that made her America’s sweetheart, to her inspiring season eleven win on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
Throughout this intimate narrative, Grey richly evokes places and times that were defining for a generation—from her preteen days in 1970s Malibu and wild child nights in New York’s club scene, to her roles in quintessential movies of the 1980s, including The Cotton Club, Red Dawn, and her breakout performance in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. With self-deprecating humor and frankness, she looks back on her unbridled, romantic adventures in Hollywood. And with enormous bravery, she shares the devastating fallout from a plastic surgery procedure that caused the sudden and stunning loss of her professional identity and career. Grey inspires with her hard-won battle back, reclaiming her sense of self from a culture and business that can impose a narrow and unforgiving definition of female worth. She finds, at last, her own true north and starts a family of her own, just in the nick of time.
Distinctive, moving, and powerful, told with generosity and pluck, Out of the Corner is a memoir about a never-ending personal evolution, a coming-of-age story for women of every age.”
Here Jennifer talks about the book in this interview. It was interesting to me…
Amazon gave the book 4.5 stars. I’m going to say 4.2. The second half of the book picked up and made all of the difference. It picked up enough that I can honestly say, I recommend it.
You can find the book HERE if you are interested.
I, too loved Dirty Dancing (who didn’t?) and watched it more times than I can count. Thanks for the recommendation of the book. I would like to pass along a very short list of authors you might also enjoy: Melanie Lageschuete and her Melinda Foster series. First book is “Growing Season Book 1. Melinda Foster” is an Iowa farm girl who returns to her home town to help with the family hardware store and manage a small acreage of farm animals. I found the characters, small town, and rural descriptions to be really on target. As a reader and Iowan, I give the series a thumbs up. 2. Jane Smiley is a serious writer who is also very entertaining. She taught at Iowa State and “Moo” is a great book to start reading her. 3. Sharyn McCrumb, from East Tennessee, is one of my all-time favorite mystery writers. One of her series is focused on the murders in the mystic mountains of ETN. A really good read is “If I’d Killed Him when I Met Him.” 4. The incomparable Louise Penny. Her murder mysteries set in Canada are great and best if read in order; but, not essential. 5. Haywood Smith is a Sourthern contemporary writer who can make you laugh so hard you have to stop reading. She hooked me when I read her “Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch.” I find recommending books a tricky business; but, I am always looking for the next good or great read and am ready, willing, and able to hit the library (or Kindle or Amazon) before I buy.