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bluefortheroses's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
While her sentences sometimes are way too long and become lose themselves, her arguments and reflections are insightful. Highly recommend
zacholiva's review against another edition
3.0
Definitely interesting, didion’s musings on failed Washingtonian promises works perfectly with her cynicism, but cynicism repeated on the same point for 240 pages gets a bit tiresome.
Not didion’s best work, but even work that isn’t her best is still worth a read
Not didion’s best work, but even work that isn’t her best is still worth a read
brianlokker's review against another edition
3.0
When I read the opening sentence of Miami, I knew, or thought I knew, that I was going to love this book. “Havana niceties come to dust in Miami.” Spare, elegant, beautiful. I anticipated a romantic rendering of the somewhat exotic city that Didion accurately calls “a tropical capital.”
Alas, I was wrong. Few, if any, subsequent passages in the book compare to the stylish economy of this first sentence. Instead, Didion’s prose throughout the book primarily consists of lengthy, meandering sentences. Waiting for the period at the end of a sentence is sometimes as frustrating as waiting for Godot.
Maybe, though, Didion’s prolix style is appropriate to her subject, which is, or at least purports to be, the Cuban exile community in Miami. Many of the exiles focus on the possibility of their return to Cuba or the next action against Fidel Castro. As time passes—the book covers the period from Castro’s accession to power in 1959 to the latter years of the Reagan administration—their hopes are repeatedly dashed one way or another. Godot never does come.
Although this book educated me about aspects of the Cuban exile community in Miami and certain people in that community, I did not find Didion’s reporting to be particularly coherent. Towards the end, for example, the focus is far more on the Reagan administration’s anti-Communism than on Miami. Maybe it’s just that the book was not what I was expecting, but I was disappointed.
Alas, I was wrong. Few, if any, subsequent passages in the book compare to the stylish economy of this first sentence. Instead, Didion’s prose throughout the book primarily consists of lengthy, meandering sentences. Waiting for the period at the end of a sentence is sometimes as frustrating as waiting for Godot.
Maybe, though, Didion’s prolix style is appropriate to her subject, which is, or at least purports to be, the Cuban exile community in Miami. Many of the exiles focus on the possibility of their return to Cuba or the next action against Fidel Castro. As time passes—the book covers the period from Castro’s accession to power in 1959 to the latter years of the Reagan administration—their hopes are repeatedly dashed one way or another. Godot never does come.
Although this book educated me about aspects of the Cuban exile community in Miami and certain people in that community, I did not find Didion’s reporting to be particularly coherent. Towards the end, for example, the focus is far more on the Reagan administration’s anti-Communism than on Miami. Maybe it’s just that the book was not what I was expecting, but I was disappointed.
valealle23's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
pretty good, mixed ish feelings. i like the beginning a lot, it gives a snapshot of miami in the 80s. so much is left over today but it’s also a completely different world. i loved reading ab the venetian pool; it seems like a portal where nothing has changed in either decade. really interesting tho - i didn’t realize how much of a racist past coral gables has. made me take a second look at george merrick and merrick park(s)
learning more ab cuba and cubans in the 60s-80s in miami was pretty interesting. there’s sm ab my city that i had no idea about.
however i do think that it kinda dragged on and that the same thing could be said in half the amount of pages. it got so repetitive that it got kinda annoying to read. i love didion’s writing style but the sentence length got too long at times when it could be cut with nothing lost. other than tho didion does an amazing job w the imagery and the character portraits. her matter-of-fact way of presenting the info reminds me of eyal press in dirty work
love the ending - definitely think that reagan’s quote sums up didion’s point on american arrogance and lack of consequences.
learning more ab cuba and cubans in the 60s-80s in miami was pretty interesting. there’s sm ab my city that i had no idea about.
however i do think that it kinda dragged on and that the same thing could be said in half the amount of pages. it got so repetitive that it got kinda annoying to read. i love didion’s writing style but the sentence length got too long at times when it could be cut with nothing lost. other than tho didion does an amazing job w the imagery and the character portraits. her matter-of-fact way of presenting the info reminds me of eyal press in dirty work
love the ending - definitely think that reagan’s quote sums up didion’s point on american arrogance and lack of consequences.
literary__mary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Although this book isn’t long, it did take me a while to read, mainly because the material took me a long time to digest. This isn’t my favorite Joan Didion book, but I still liked it!
isabelle__dion's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Damn, Joan Didion can research and write the hell out of a subject! I'm pretty sure about 1/3 of it went over my head, with political figures and historical events I wasn't super familiar with, but I learned A LOT. This book was dense with so many names of people, events, places, dates, etc... that it made it hard to follow at times, but you have to applaud Didion for the amount of work that was put in bringing this book together. With all this said, I still really enjoyed this one and recommend it to anyone who wants to dive deeper in the history of Cuban exiles in Miami.
lou_o_donnell's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.0