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hazelsbookcase's review against another edition
emotional
sad
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Medical content
Moderate: Terminal illness and Death of parent
crawforl's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Death, and Death of parent
ieotter13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.25
did i accidentally read the play version? yes. was it still good? also yes.
a pretty poetic book about going crazy as a result of intense grief.
i did have fun imagining how i’d stage this as a play tho so worth it ig?
a pretty poetic book about going crazy as a result of intense grief.
i did have fun imagining how i’d stage this as a play tho so worth it ig?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Mental illness, Medical content, Chronic illness, Child death, and Grief
skysbooknook's review
reflective
sad
fast-paced
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, and Medical content
lesenilpferd's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma
jkamler's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death
Moderate: Medical content
sarasreading's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Unlike some of the other books I've read recently that deal with death and grief and have helped me process my own fears and trauma, this one brought them all to the forefront, making it a pretty stressful read for me.
I enjoyed the author's use of repeated phrases throughout, as it really mirrors how the brain plays those little moments over and over again. She's a skilled writer for sure. It was just a difficult read for me that, in the end, didn't help with my own healing and possibly took me a step back. It was written in the first year after she lost her husband and nearly lost her daughter, so it's all very fresh for her.
I recommend it if you don't have fears or existing trauma around sudden loss, otherwise proceed with caution.
I enjoyed the author's use of repeated phrases throughout, as it really mirrors how the brain plays those little moments over and over again. She's a skilled writer for sure. It was just a difficult read for me that, in the end, didn't help with my own healing and possibly took me a step back. It was written in the first year after she lost her husband and nearly lost her daughter, so it's all very fresh for her.
I recommend it if you don't have fears or existing trauma around sudden loss, otherwise proceed with caution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Medical content
applesodaperson's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
This was such an interesting look into grief of all kinds. Didion did such a good job of making the reader feel what she felt while she was going through the death of her husband and the hospitalization of her daughter. I actually liked the parts where she was describing the medical problems that happened to her husband and daughter. It was a definite tone shift, but it made sense because despite her grief, she was forced to focus on the complicated medical stuff with her daughter. It was also interesting how many details she remembered from the day her husband died, to the point that she remembered what they were talking about at the exact moment it happened. This definitely is a flashbulb memory in her life. Overall, it was very well written and lived up to the hype.
Listened to on Libby.
Listened to on Libby.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Medical content
cepbreed's review
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
"Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailiness of life."
Joan Didion is a master of her craft and yet this book managed to disappoint me. I think I went into this with such lofty expectations. I had my first true conscious experience with grief in May of 2022 and have ruminated intensely on that experience and my reactions to it in the past year and a half. Unconsciously I was expecting Joan Didion to serve me some sort of world-altering revelation on a silver platter. I wanted desperately to understand myself and my grief more and I did not get that. Even though I'm conscious of this that doesn't change how I feel about this book. I can acknowledge this is a chronicle of her personal experience but that does nothing to abate my feelings of discontentment.
But I truly do want to praise Didion. After reading a couple of her essays I grew to love her style and that didn't change throughout this reading experience. She just knows when to zoom in and out and I am so envious. There's some part of me that is pessimistic. I will never reach that level of intrinsic writing ability and I fear that my writing career ends here. At university I'm competent but in a world Joan Didion has existed in is there any place for me? The other side of my brain is also inspired by her works. Something about the way she writes makes me want to write. That conflict is tearing me apart.
The only other complaint I have is that she gratuitously name-drops. I understand her life has been star-studded and marked by remarkable experiences at notable locations but at some point it adds nothing to what she is trying to convey. There is no need to know some of these details and the specificity of it all sometimes overshadows the plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Chronic illness, Death, and Grief
nadijya's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders