Ghostbuster's Daughter

March 1, 2018
The daughter of legendary filmmaker Harold Ramis (1944-2014) chronicles her wild Hollywood upbringing and close relationship with her father.Even in the pre-internet era, having a permissive and free-wheeling celebrity parent could be challenging, as Stiel proves in detailing her youthful rebelliousness, drug use, and promiscuity. There were, however, obvious advantages as well, ranging from the opportunity to hang out with legendary actors in exotic locations to financial support that enabled a directionless young woman to eventually find her way in the world. By turns frank and fawning when assessing her extended family's ability to navigate the perils of public life, the author's affection for her dad, a beloved figure in Hollywood, dominates the narrative. She joins the #metoo movement by (gently) chiding her father for some of the more questionable scenes in his movies and, more movingly, by sharing her own story of abuse at the hands of her mother's boyfriend at age 9. While there are some juicy nuggets of gossip sprinkled throughout--the most shocking being the revelation that Harold Ramis was the father of Clueless director Amy Heckerling's daughter--fans looking for new insight into the two-decade rift between Ramis and Bill Murray that followed the completion of Groundhog Day or behind-the-scenes Ghostbusters secrets will be disappointed. The book closes with a sobering account of the director's long bout with vasculitis, an ordeal his wife kept under wraps in hopes of preserving his ability to return to work if he recovered, depriving his family of support from the entertainment community when they needed it most. After his death, Ramis received an outpouring of love, though the author struggled to come to grips with his passing even as she focused on raising her own children.A touching homage to a beloved father and a sufficiently amusing tribute to a comedy legend, but it's less compelling as a memoir.

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March 12, 2018
Stiel debuts with a family memoir that offers an intimate view of her father: writer, actor, and director Harold Ramis (Animal House, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day), who died in 2014. Short, digestible chapters describe Ramis’s early life and career, including editing jokes at Playboy, collaborating on National Lampoon Radio Hour, and his subsequent foray into filmmaking. A thorough exploration of family dynamics runs
parallel to Ramis’s professional arc, showcasing a more intimate side of the comedic legend largely unknown to admirers of his work. Ramis adopted a loose, relaxed approach to parenting, and Stiel writes that he was unabashed about his recreational drug use and had an open marriage arrangement with Stiel’s mother. Stiel recalls the warmth and compassion that radiated from Ramis as he nurtured his young daughter and helped shape her personality and worldview. Accounts of Ramis’s films are interspersed among these heartfelt anecdotes and hilarious asides, and Stiel often includes personal photos on location and unique insight into her father’s state of mind (he was disappointed with his ending of National Lampoon’s Vacation, and often apologized to the actors involved). In a work sure to satisfy fans of Ramis, Stiel renders a three-dimensional image of her father as an emblematic figure in comedy.

April 1, 2018

It should be no surprise that the beloved late writer, director, and actor Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day) was also a devoted family man. As evidenced in his comedic body of work with its subversive yet philosophical view of human nature, eldest daughter Stiel reveals that Ramis's best fatherly advice was that "life is messy." She delightfully traces her father's journey from full-time substitute teacher to Chicago's Second City improv troupe to SCTV to his most iconic role as Ghostbuster Egon Spengler and beyond. Stiel also candidly recounts her messy Hollywood upbringing, including her parents' open marriage and eventual divorce, her own tumultuous teenage years, and the revelation that she has a half-sister, the result of Ramis's affair with Fast Times at Ridgemont High director Amy Heckerling. Despite the messiness, Ramis remained a constant source of support in his daughter's life until his death in 2014. VERDICT Stiel's recollections of her adolescence can get tedious, but she shines in the chapters recounting her father's films with behind-the-scenes anecdotes and an emphasis on Ramis's own assessment of his work.--Amanda Westfall, Emmet O'Neal P.L., Mountain Brook, AL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2018
Harold Ramis died in February 2014; for many of his fans, and for his daughter, Violet, the feeling of loss is as raw and disorienting today as it was then. This loving tribute to the author's father shows us the professional and the private man: the writer and/or director of some of our favorite films (Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, National Lampoon's Vacation) and the husband, lover, and father who never quite embraced the idea of a traditional family but who loved his family with a depth and intensity that may move some readers to tears. We learn for the first time the devastating toll his long illness?autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis?took on his mind and body; of a daughter he loved but kept secret from his family; of the difficulties he had coming to terms with his two-decade-long estrangement from a man who was once his best friend, Bill Murray. A lovingly remembered memoir and a frequently laugh-out-loud-funny, often tear-inducing book about a man who brought us all to tears with the sheer joy of his films.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)