Last Night at the Viper Room

I had an immediate crush on River Phoenix after seeing him in Stand by Me as a young teen only to learn he was already dead. Edwards tries to give a broader context of the “brat pack” of the eighties and nineties and River's unconventional upbringing in communes and in the Children of God cult. I'm sure more could be said about child actors and the pressure to be the breadwinner from a young age but that's a whole other book.