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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced
slow-paced
I really liked her essays about her own life. Sometimes it's terrifying how real her and close her experiences felt to me.
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
I enjoyed reading this collection but it did really cement that I prefer Didion's fiction: I think she can speak so eloquently on very specific topics and kind of grandstands on some things she doesn't know that much about. Still, her voice, and her diction is incredible and even the way this is organized was fantastic in the journey it takes you through California and different parts of the world- but was also in a lot of ways a very contrary text to the last thing si read by her (Play It As It Lays.) I think unfortunately this text occasionally taps into the shortcomings of her worldview, and her conservatism. Also to mention, that this piece was written in the 60s and therefore uses language occasionally that we wouldn't use today even if it does so to express modern ideas.
Still, I think her voice is so unique and observational. Her essay Goodbye To All That was in fact really indicative that I did not have any desire to leave New York ( and could not much relate to her reasons for leaving) but really resonated with her section on why some transplants find it so special and beautiful. I liked her exposes on the seedier sides of the counterculture surrounding the Haight and really appreciated her take on Newport as I've often felt similarly about New England.
Still, I think her voice is so unique and observational. Her essay Goodbye To All That was in fact really indicative that I did not have any desire to leave New York ( and could not much relate to her reasons for leaving) but really resonated with her section on why some transplants find it so special and beautiful. I liked her exposes on the seedier sides of the counterculture surrounding the Haight and really appreciated her take on Newport as I've often felt similarly about New England.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
reflective
slow-paced
Like any collection of shorter works, there were essays in this book that really gripped me and others I found less compelling. Joan Didion writes beautifully and paints such a vivid picture of 1960s California (and, in a couple of essays, Hawai'i and New York), though reading in 2025 made parts of it feel like wading through a historical source rather than modern journalism, particularly with the outdated racist and homophobic terms throughout. I found the titular essay one of the dullest, unfortunately, but it was by no means badly written, just not personally interesting. However, I loved the pieces on elopements to Las Vegas, military/colonial history in Hawai'i, and Howard Hughes - none of them topics I'd ever given much thought before.
I'd be keen to read something else by Didion! I'd love to see the way she writes applied to a topic I already have some interest in.
I'd be keen to read something else by Didion! I'd love to see the way she writes applied to a topic I already have some interest in.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Racism, Murder
Moderate: Racial slurs, Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War
reflective
fast-paced
I think has better moments than the white album but isn’t quite as good as my year of magical thinking — really fun to buy at the goodwill on Haight-Ashbury and read on a bus ride through the central valley
adventurous
informative
inspiring
She has the juice!! My second Didion essay collection and I am bowled over anew. There will never be another Joan.
I think my favorites were the Vegas weddings essay, On Keeping a Notebook and On Self-Respect, the titular essay, Rock of Ages, and Goodbye to All That.
I think my favorites were the Vegas weddings essay, On Keeping a Notebook and On Self-Respect, the titular essay, Rock of Ages, and Goodbye to All That.
this book was first published in the year my mother was born. at 23, i picked this up for the first time, and i have a feeling i'll be coming back to it over and over again. i want to be able to think like Didion, to see the world through her eyes. most of all i was struck by how tangible Didion's love for the land was. she illuminates a collective yearning for the past and breathes such life into the places that she describes, from the eden-like golden valleys of California to the unexpected beauty in the isolation of Alcatraz. the malevolent dryness of the Santa Ana wind, the fallen mansions of Newport. the sense of wonder from being young in New York—and growing out of it. the personal notes I also loved. there was a fair amount of name-dropping, which makes sense because she was writing about the culture after all, and i think i would be even more attached to this collection had i been born in her generation — nonetheless, after reading these essays, i completely understand why her work is so widely beloved.