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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
the first thing i’d like to note is didion’s writing style. it is like a single thread that weaves into a spiderweb, strung together in delicate and translucent and deathly precise fashion. her prose very much reminds me of california, of the shimmering mirage-like quality that is folded over the entire state.
in the preface of the book, didion says:
“my only advantage as a reporter is that i am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. and it always does. that is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.”
in this collection of essays, she sells out the illusion of the californian image.
i think this is a worthy book for californians and all people who have thought about going to california to read— despite the essays taking place in the 50s and 60s, there’s still an undeniable essence that lingers in the californian unconscious today. the constant rejection of the past towards a new future. take the gold rush from the 40s, the silicon valley boom of the 2010s. california has always been a place held on a pedestal of shiny growth and new development and hollow promises, and didion is a witness to all who have been chewed and spit out under the intoxication of such golden ideals. didion unrolls this with such a gentleness and respect for californias people and geography that it makes my palms itchy.
my favorite essays:
- some dreamers of the golden dream (love and death in the inner californian desert cities)
- on keeping a notebook (i find it really cute when writers talking about their writing, artists talk about their art, etc)
- letters from paradise (hawaii and tourism for escapism)
- notes from a native daughter (roots of sacramento)
- i can’t get that monster out of my head (the monster that is hollywood)
in the preface of the book, didion says:
“my only advantage as a reporter is that i am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. and it always does. that is one last thing to remember: writers are always selling somebody out.”
in this collection of essays, she sells out the illusion of the californian image.
i think this is a worthy book for californians and all people who have thought about going to california to read— despite the essays taking place in the 50s and 60s, there’s still an undeniable essence that lingers in the californian unconscious today. the constant rejection of the past towards a new future. take the gold rush from the 40s, the silicon valley boom of the 2010s. california has always been a place held on a pedestal of shiny growth and new development and hollow promises, and didion is a witness to all who have been chewed and spit out under the intoxication of such golden ideals. didion unrolls this with such a gentleness and respect for californias people and geography that it makes my palms itchy.
my favorite essays:
- some dreamers of the golden dream (love and death in the inner californian desert cities)
- on keeping a notebook (i find it really cute when writers talking about their writing, artists talk about their art, etc)
- letters from paradise (hawaii and tourism for escapism)
- notes from a native daughter (roots of sacramento)
- i can’t get that monster out of my head (the monster that is hollywood)
4.5 stars. Such excellent writing that is clear and sharp and smart without being pompous.
Favorites:
Comrade Laski, CPUSA (M-L)
Slouching Toward Bethlehem
On Keeping a Notebook
On Self-Respect
Going Home
Notes from a Native Daughter
Goodbye to All That
I’m giving this 3.5 stars. The essays I liked, I really liked. This is my first time reading Joan Didion, and I quite enjoy her matter-of-factness and the way she can find, or at least suggest, relationships between seemingly unrelated things. However, I don’t know if this worked for me in some of the other essays. While I did find this an effective portrait of California in the 60s, or just mid-century America in general, so many of the references went over my head, even when I did a Google search for aforementioned person or media. This isn’t really Joan Didion’s fault, it’s more mine, but it definitely prevented some of these essays from fully impacting me. I also found her surprisingly cynical. Sometimes this felt warranted and other times it made me bristle a bit. I definitely need to read more of her work to really Get it. This was good, though. All the essays listed above are worth the read, especially On Self-Respect.
Comrade Laski, CPUSA (M-L)
Slouching Toward Bethlehem
On Keeping a Notebook
On Self-Respect
Going Home
Notes from a Native Daughter
Goodbye to All That
I’m giving this 3.5 stars. The essays I liked, I really liked. This is my first time reading Joan Didion, and I quite enjoy her matter-of-factness and the way she can find, or at least suggest, relationships between seemingly unrelated things. However, I don’t know if this worked for me in some of the other essays. While I did find this an effective portrait of California in the 60s, or just mid-century America in general, so many of the references went over my head, even when I did a Google search for aforementioned person or media. This isn’t really Joan Didion’s fault, it’s more mine, but it definitely prevented some of these essays from fully impacting me. I also found her surprisingly cynical. Sometimes this felt warranted and other times it made me bristle a bit. I definitely need to read more of her work to really Get it. This was good, though. All the essays listed above are worth the read, especially On Self-Respect.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
Ok, NEARLY finished but the library needed it back....
reflective
medium-paced
This collection of essays was great; the very last essay, “Goodbye to All That,” was just unforgettable.