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hannahlouise_'s review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I love Joan Didion so, so much. I have always been more enthralled with her memoirs (Play it as it Lays was fantastic but, for me, no where near the genius of The White Album etc.) But this was truly phenomenal. Combining her stark truth and precision with beautiful yet succinct prose, I am once again in awe of just how fantastic a writer she was.
adambwriter's review against another edition
4.0
An American Orwellian.
https://adambwriter.com/2022/09/09/a-book-of-common-prayer-by-joan-didion/
https://adambwriter.com/2022/09/09/a-book-of-common-prayer-by-joan-didion/
briandice's review
5.0
Didion is one of those rare authors that pens hypnotic sentences that weave into paragraphs that make you struggle to recall where you are and why there's drool on your chin. It doesn't matter if she's writing about a fictional banana republic or a non-fictional bout of depression from having outlived her husband and daughter, JD writes sentences that I want to climb into like a warm bed. Ones like this:
There's a lot of dialogue in this book - more than I can recall in other Didion works - but it's wonderful, like something ripped from the second act of a Wilde play. Our narrator is telling us the story of Charlotte, Warren and Leonard - a love triangle that traps the worst human detritus in those three acute angles - all the while peppering the narrative with her own story in the fictional country of Boca Grande. This is a great place for Didion initiates to begin, a tremendous novel that packs so much into its small amount of pages.
As a child of the western United States she had been provided as well with faith in the value of certain frontiers on which her family had lived, in the virtues of cleared and irrigated land, of high-yield crops, of thrift, industry and the judicial system, of progress and education, and in the generally upward spiral of history.
There's a lot of dialogue in this book - more than I can recall in other Didion works - but it's wonderful, like something ripped from the second act of a Wilde play. Our narrator is telling us the story of Charlotte, Warren and Leonard - a love triangle that traps the worst human detritus in those three acute angles - all the while peppering the narrative with her own story in the fictional country of Boca Grande. This is a great place for Didion initiates to begin, a tremendous novel that packs so much into its small amount of pages.
janeanger's review against another edition
3.0
I'll gather my thoughts and get back to you on this one.
Added 7/20/15
Didion's fiction is, to me, pretty absurd. The characters in this book are so unrealistic it's almost laughable, the plot slow and cerebral with most things happening inside the heads of aforementioned characters or at a dinner party. Why do so many things happen at dinner parties or airports in these people's world? That this book was published in the 70s is obvious throughout. I saw someone somewhere describe this book as containing "microscopic prose" and cannot think of my own original phrase that more aptly sums it up.
Added 7/20/15
Didion's fiction is, to me, pretty absurd. The characters in this book are so unrealistic it's almost laughable, the plot slow and cerebral with most things happening inside the heads of aforementioned characters or at a dinner party. Why do so many things happen at dinner parties or airports in these people's world? That this book was published in the 70s is obvious throughout. I saw someone somewhere describe this book as containing "microscopic prose" and cannot think of my own original phrase that more aptly sums it up.
mmw2024's review against another edition
4.0
The plot reminded me in a strange way of "100 Years of Solitude" and was somewhat hard to follow at points but the writing -just the way each sentence was constructed-was amazing.
annagut1errez's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
alexis58's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cuteswamp's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
readouid's review against another edition
3.0
Didion's prose style is, as always, compelling, but comes across too much as Didion's voice rather than the narrators, especially if you're familiar with Didion's other work, especially her nonfiction. The juxtaposition of political absurdity doesn't fully meshy with the analysis of Charlotte as norteamericana and lampooning of a certain kind of clueless WASP-y American in a broader geopolitical landscape. I see what Didion was aiming for, but it didn't need this volume of words to accomplish.
keight's review against another edition
5.0
One of the rare books I found myself reading slower on purpose, not wanting to breeze through it too fast. Read more on the booklog