For all fans of John Hughes and his hit films such as National Lampoonâs Vacation, Sixteen Candles, and Home Alone, comes Jason Diamondâs hilarious memoir of growing up obsessed with the iconic filmmakerâs moviesâa preoccupation that eventually convinces Diamond he should write Hughesâ biography and travel to New York City on a quest that is as funny as it is hopeless.
For as long as Jason Diamond can remember, heâs been infatuated with John Hughesâ movies. From the outrageous, raunchy antics in National Lampoonâs Vacation to the teenage angst in The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink to the insanely clever and unforgettable Home Alone, Jason could not get enough of Hughesâ films. And so the seed was planted in his mind that it should fall to him to write a biography of his favorite filmmaker. It didnât matter to Jason that he had no qualifications, training, background, platform, or direction. Thus went the years-long, delusional, earnest, and assiduous quest to reach his goal. But no book came out of these years, and no book will. What he did get was a story that fills the pages of this unconventional, hilarious memoir.
In Searching for John Hughes, Jason tells how a Jewish kid from a broken home in a Chicago suburbâsometimes homeless, always restlessâfound comfort and connection in the likewise broken lives in the suburban Chicago of John Hughesâ oeuvre. He moved to New York to become a writer. He started to write a book he had no business writing. In the meantime, he brewed coffee and guarded cupcake cafes. All the while, he watched John Hughes movies religiously.
Though his original biography of Hughes has long since been abandoned, Jason has discovered he is a writer through and through. And the adversity of going for broke has now been transformed into wisdom. Or, at least, a really, really good story.
In other words, this is a memoir of growing up. One part big dream, one part big failure, one part John Hughes movies, one part Chicago, and one part New York. Itâs a story of what comes after the âGo for it!â part of the command to young creatives to pursue their dreamsâno matter how absurd they might seem at first.