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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
My first foray into Didion’s work. I really enjoyed some of these pieces but some of them I couldn’t care less about, but that’s to be expected from a collection of editorial essays from almost 60 years ago.
My favourites were: Where the Kissing Never Stops; Slouching Towards Bethlehem; On Keeping a Notebook; On Self-Respect; On Going Home; Goodbye to All That
Given 3.5 stars because I really enjoyed the ones I enjoyed and I probably liked about 70% of the essays in this collection.
My favourites were: Where the Kissing Never Stops; Slouching Towards Bethlehem; On Keeping a Notebook; On Self-Respect; On Going Home; Goodbye to All That
Given 3.5 stars because I really enjoyed the ones I enjoyed and I probably liked about 70% of the essays in this collection.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
reflective
medium-paced
Portrait of America in the 1960’s. I liked the autobiographical parts a bit more. The other essays are nominally about other people but still partly center her. This makes it read more like a diary than straight journalism, which was Didion’s intention. I see her influence in later writers, the unspoken conclusions that arise from what might sound like aloof observations.
I like Rafia Zakaria‘s description of Didion described as “a detached but insightful, prescient but vulnerable female writer, acidly exposing American faults to American readers.”
All that said, I did not much enjoy reading this.
“In brief, people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character, a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to other, more instantly negotiable virtues. The measure of its slipping prestige is that one tends to think of it only in connection with homely children and with United States senators who have been defeated, preferably in the primary, for re-election. Nonetheless, character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.”
I like Rafia Zakaria‘s description of Didion described as “a detached but insightful, prescient but vulnerable female writer, acidly exposing American faults to American readers.”
All that said, I did not much enjoy reading this.
“In brief, people with self-respect exhibit a certain toughness, a kind of moral nerve; they display what was once called character, a quality which, although approved in the abstract, sometimes loses ground to other, more instantly negotiable virtues. The measure of its slipping prestige is that one tends to think of it only in connection with homely children and with United States senators who have been defeated, preferably in the primary, for re-election. Nonetheless, character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.”
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Masterful literary journalism. Smart, keen, discerning, and evocative—she writes with a golden rhythm.
reflective
fast-paced