Non-fiction RA matrix (from Wyatt, 2007) for The Boys: A Memoir of Hollywood and Family by Ron and Clint Howard. Published October, 2021, 323 pages (I actually listed to the audiobook - narrated by Ron and Clint with the forward written and read by Ron's daughter Bryce).
1. Where is the book on the narrative continuum?
Highly narrative - the book was written like a story being told, highly narrative.
2. What is the subject of the book? The life of Ron and Clint Howard's mother and father (briefly) and then the life of the family up to the death of their parents.
3. What type of book is it?
A memoir.
4. Articulate appeal
What is the pacing of the book? The pacing is medium. It never feels like a thriller, but the story never bogs down. There is description and background information but again it never gets slow.
Describe the characters of the book. The main characters are Ron and Clint, their father and mother. There are some other people (Henry Winkler, George Lucas, Ron's wife) who show up some and matter to the story, but it's really about the nuclear family.
How does the story feel? It's warm and fuzzy in a real sense. It does a good job of capturing how the family worked together.
What is the intent of the author? To tell the story of growing up as a child star, and particularly to show how their parents made their lives work well even in the midst of the Hollywood upbringing. It explores why their parents were able to successfully raise well-rounded happy (for the most part) children in that situation.
What is the focus of the story? The lives of Ron and Clint and how their upbringing affected their life choices, and also how their parents were able to raise them well.
Does the language matter? Yes. It is clear and focused and easy to follow.
Is the setting important and well described? Yes and yes. It doesn't go into lots of details about Hollywood and what other child actors experienced, but it does describe their neighborhood, and also what the life of a child actor was like - on set for the different shows.
Are there details, and if so, of what? There are lots of details about the life of the child actor, and about their family life, many small stories that add to the reader's understanding. There are details about directing and acting as well. They are explained in ways that were not hard to understand.
Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear? None.
Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience? Yes, all of those. They write about times when they came to learn important life lessons, about the challenges of going through adolescence, about how they made decisions regarding their adult careers. They also reflect on how well their parents kept them safe through their childhood. They were honest about some of the things that didn't go as well.
5. Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?
1. Story line and subject 2. Character 3. Learning/experiencing
Reference
Wyatt, N. (2007). The Readers Advisory Guide to Nonfiction. American Library Association.
Hi Janna! This memoir sounds unique in the sense that they grew up in an overall happy/healthy family. I also did my matrix on a memoir, but it was the more typical overcoming adversity and conflict with her parents type of story. It sounds like they were able to keep the narrative moving forward without a strong element of conflict. Or was the conflict found between their family and the Hollywood culture rather than within the family?
ReplyDeleteI think there was a sense of conflict between the family and the Hollywood culture, but it wasn't a major point. Ron and Clint note that their parents protected them from it, and reflect on that, but as they were growing up they didn't realize it. So it doesn't come out as a way to move the narrative forward. One fairly major issue was the challenges they faced getting work as adolescents, and how that could have set them down a dark path, but how their family and its values helped. I hadn't thought about the fact that directors can hire people over 18 to portray people under 18, and then if they do that they don't have all the laws protecting minors. Sometimes I laugh because the actors clearly aren't the age of the people they are playing, but now I understand that.
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