Searching for John Hughes: Or Everything I Thought I Needed to Know about Life I Learned from Watching ’80s Movies

Searching for John Hughes from new New Yorker Jason Diamond tells a fascinating story about youth, idol worship, and growing up. Diamond relays his personal story of a childhood in Chicago and of moving to New York City, where he matured as a critic and aspiring literary artist. Early on he became obsessed with the movies of John Hughes (Pretty in Pink, Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Home Alone) and struggled to write a biography of the famous filmmaker. He in the meantime lived an interesting life in New York, where he was transformed by his journey to become a writer. In New York he finds success and recreates himself.

He also tells a fascinating first-person story about the fanship he developed with the auteur John Hughes when he intellectually explored his oeuvre for relevance and a more meaningful life. During this gestation, he comes to terms with the power and influence that the cinema and literature have over us. In some sense, he has gotten his literary degree from the city, with there even being the biographical book he has written that he no longer likes. Diamond does find an enlightenment of sorts, which he shares. He has also found friends, love, and work in The Big Apple, but the book is not about them. Maybe sadly for some readers, he has learned not to take the literary life too seriously.