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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
dark
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
While Didion is undoubtedly a masterful writer, and while "Goodbye To All That" is maybe the my new favorite personal essay, it was hard for me to get over Didion's anxious distance from the characters she's writing about. Her wry and often mocking humor can come across as a tool for avoiding any attempt at real empathy, which bothered me especially considering how little Didion's awareness of her own privilege seems to inform her writing. I think of her as very much the opposite of an essayist like DFW, whose extreme vulnerability in the service of empathy can be painful to watch in its own way.
challenging
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
didion writes well. obviously. she’s joan didion. even her packing list is well-written.
of course, not everything in this collection packs a punch. some of it is sleepy, some of it insouciantly drab. i plogged through. though, i started this in november of one year and didn’t finish until may of the next.
my standouts:
- some dreamers of the golden dream (i think? i read this one in nov and as previously stated, it’s now the following may. but i think i liked this.)
- on keeping a notebook
- on morality
- goodbye to all that (i mean, obviously)
surprisingly, i thought slouching was a stinker. it went on and on and said nothing. there were some moments that made an attempt at redemption of the thing but ultimately failed - for me, at least - to do so.
it seems at this point only fair to say, i’m a babitz girl. and in the current era, we’re being divided up, babitz or didion. and so i must say im a babitz girl, otherwise you may think i have no taste. i do have taste, and didion is fine. i mean, she’s actually a genius. just not my favorite.
of course, not everything in this collection packs a punch. some of it is sleepy, some of it insouciantly drab. i plogged through. though, i started this in november of one year and didn’t finish until may of the next.
my standouts:
- some dreamers of the golden dream (i think? i read this one in nov and as previously stated, it’s now the following may. but i think i liked this.)
- on keeping a notebook
- on morality
- goodbye to all that (i mean, obviously)
surprisingly, i thought slouching was a stinker. it went on and on and said nothing. there were some moments that made an attempt at redemption of the thing but ultimately failed - for me, at least - to do so.
it seems at this point only fair to say, i’m a babitz girl. and in the current era, we’re being divided up, babitz or didion. and so i must say im a babitz girl, otherwise you may think i have no taste. i do have taste, and didion is fine. i mean, she’s actually a genius. just not my favorite.
gorgeous writing didion’s mind is beautiful and bright and this book felt so natural and made me appreciate my home state of california even more
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Loved some of these essays, didn’t care for others!