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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Loved the first essay and the last essay in this book.
The rest had moments of brilliant prose underscored by debilitating bouts of racism
The rest had moments of brilliant prose underscored by debilitating bouts of racism
It's been over a year since I left California for good (for now anyway) but my first Joan Didion is making me wonder if California will ever leave me. Didion's essays are utterly smitten with a land whose spirit is inseparable from the forest fires and waves cresting on the shores of the Pacific, but smitten in the way where you're no longer blind to the faults and ugliness in your lover's character–you love him all the same anyway.
The thing about Didion's love for California is that love isn't so much about the object of your affections but rather what it says about you. Reading Didion feels like opening a how-to guide to looking at your reflection in a mirror: it's about knowing how where you come from affects how you see the world and tell stories about it. Even though I just finished this book a couple hours ago, I already know that I will be rereading "On Keeping A Notebook" and "Goodbye To All That" again and again.
The thing about Didion's love for California is that love isn't so much about the object of your affections but rather what it says about you. Reading Didion feels like opening a how-to guide to looking at your reflection in a mirror: it's about knowing how where you come from affects how you see the world and tell stories about it. Even though I just finished this book a couple hours ago, I already know that I will be rereading "On Keeping A Notebook" and "Goodbye To All That" again and again.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
"I want to tell you the truth, and already I have told you about the wide rivers."
um livro lindo sobre tempo, espaço e o ser. na minha opinião, alguns dos melhores ensaios de Joan - notes from a native daughter, on self respect e goodbye to all that sendo meus favoritos.
mesmo assim, nenhum deles é enfadonho (diferente de the white album….), ainda que eu não entenda ou conheça muitos dos personagens e cenários tão dominantes na imaginação de Joan. a voz dela é tão forte e aqui tão maravilhosamente jovem que pra mim foi como se ela estivesse estendendo a mão pra me encontrar.
talvez daqui a alguns anos eu também escreva algo parecido sobre meus 23 anos; uma versão de mim com as "skirts too long, shy to the point of aggravation". só posso pedir que ela não me assombre muito até lá.
5/5
um livro lindo sobre tempo, espaço e o ser. na minha opinião, alguns dos melhores ensaios de Joan - notes from a native daughter, on self respect e goodbye to all that sendo meus favoritos.
mesmo assim, nenhum deles é enfadonho (diferente de the white album….), ainda que eu não entenda ou conheça muitos dos personagens e cenários tão dominantes na imaginação de Joan. a voz dela é tão forte e aqui tão maravilhosamente jovem que pra mim foi como se ela estivesse estendendo a mão pra me encontrar.
talvez daqui a alguns anos eu também escreva algo parecido sobre meus 23 anos; uma versão de mim com as "skirts too long, shy to the point of aggravation". só posso pedir que ela não me assombre muito até lá.
5/5
adventurous
reflective
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
This was very hit or miss for me it feels like there was two different people who wrote this because half of this is the best essays ive ever read and the other half took me weeks to read. My biggest takeaway is that Babitz was so real for hating San Francisco it sounds unbearable and I cant even imagine how much worse it’s gotten.