Search­ing for John Hugh­es: Or Every­thing I Thought I Need­ed to Know about Life I Learned from Watch­ing 80s Movies is Jason Diamond’s mem­oir of being a Jew­ish kid from a bro­ken home in a Chica­go sub­urb — some­times home­less, always rest­less — who found com­fort and con­nec­tion in the like­wise bro­ken lives he saw in the sub­ur­ban Chica­go of John Hugh­es’ oeu­vre. His obses­sion with Hugh­es even­tu­al­ly con­vinced him to write a book-length biog­ra­phy of his favorite film­mak­er, despite lack­ing any qual­i­fi­ca­tions, train­ing, back­ground, plat­form, or direc­tion. The quest to do so is as hilar­i­ous as it is hope­less when it takes Dia­mond to New York City, where the real­i­ty that some dreams are not meant to come true, and that some books are not meant to be writ­ten, final­ly sinks in.