Nora Ephron died yesterday.
I almost can’t believe it.
I saw her on Oprah one time. There’s an idea of heaven: Sitting between Nora Ephron and Oprah. We would talk books. We’d start with lunch and end with cocktails after dinner. We’d transition from books to life stories.
Oprah would break in with “What I know for sure…” and Nora and I would tell her to lighten up and we’d laaaaaaaugh. So hard.
Nora Ephron wrote, produced and directed movies. She wrote a collection of essays titled I Feel Bad About My Neck that had me laughing and crying. She zeroed in on life so we all “got it”. Finally, you could laugh at things you thought were unique and in Ephron’s writing you could find out: Not so unique. Just human.
Her observations that made us all just human were hilarious. But also heart provoking. Her writing could make us laugh with each other and make us lean on one another with tears, “Oh, honey, I have BEEN there.”
This article by Virginia Heffernan said it well, ” The comic lines that always landed right—and then the sudden turns in language and stagecraft that gently blew the heart open.”
I had another fantasy that she would write the screenplay to my novel. You know, when it stops being a manuscript and turns into a book. Which will, OF COURSE, then be turned into a movie. I thought Nora might write it as an act of charity and I would ask to have it written in the contract that I could have a little stool in the corner, just to watch. I even drink tap water if they could just let me be in the same room.
And then maybe she’d turn to me and say, “That was a great line. That has to go in the movie.”
And then we’d laugh.
Whaddayathink? Which of her movies did you like best? Were you a fan? Who is your favorite contemporary author?
I loved “When Harry Met Sally.” When I watched it shortly after my divorce, I cried buckets, thinking it would never happen to me. When I watched it recently, I was so touched by all the old couples talking about how they got together. So many things in that movie have happened to me or to people I know. She really did “get” modern life from a woman’s point of view.
Thanks for commenting, Katherine! When Harry Met Sally is a classic. You can watch it and sob and watch it and laugh- and sometimes both. I think she really is the best at that genre of story.
She hit the poignancy of love nail on the head with great accuracy. Wow. I never knew who wrote those stories but of course a common thread. Thank you.
Hi, Claire! Thanks for reading and commenting. I love that phrase “love nail on the head with great accuracy.” I read the novel Heartburn but haven’t seen the movie yet.
I love how Nora, (not that we were on a first-name basis), used humor to tell the truth. When I try that, it usually backfires but she definitely had a gift. (Bad syntax, I know.) I look back upon her career and say, “I want what she’s having!” Nora, enjoy meeting all of your literary heroes now that you are among them!
I think her writing had a way of making us all feel on a first name basis. Thanks for reading! Love you.
Oh no! I didn’t hear about this til here. I loved her! I read her books, even the most recent one, I Remember Nothing, about which a reviewer scolded, “Remarks do not make a book.” I thought she was so brilliant and funny and kind and good. I’m with you in terms of idols or heros. So this is sad! But it makes me happy to share a sad good-bye with you, Charise, my dear friend. 🙂
I’m sorry you saw it on my blog though! She was so great. When we get to heaven, let’s stalk Nora, okay?