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thewoodlandbookshelf's review
4.25
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Medical content
olekittycat's review
3.5
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Medical content
rachthecreator's review
4.5
Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Grief, Blood, Chronic illness, and Medical content
thebookfetishist's review against another edition
3.25
Stunning writing.
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, and Medical content
anoushka05's review
4.25
Graphic: Death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Grief, and Medical trauma
imrereads's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Grief
clarabooksit's review against another edition
2.25
It wasn’t for me.
To be fair, I was avoiding it less because of its popularity but because I don’t like Didion’s perspective. I haven’t read any of her fiction but I’ve read a lot of her cultural criticism essays on literature and film, and I’ve always found her elitist and out-of-touch. This book wasn’t the exception.
While I respect her intellect and her writing is undeniably smart, her complete lack of awareness, let alone acknowledgement, of her overwhelming privilege—white, wealthy, tastemaker for the cultural elite—is grating, frustrating and sometimes offensive. Even in a book about the year following the sudden and tragic death of her husband, she can’t help but name drop and throw around her wealthy lifestyle, never once reflecting on her privilege. It makes her very difficult to relate to.
I wanted to like this book. The way it’s written brilliantly reflects the way grief alters the way we think and how memory can fail us. There were moments that hit me in the gut with their poignancy. And it feels unfair to judge how someone expresses their grief, but overall this didn’t work for me.
Memoirs I’d recommend instead: A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung, Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey, and Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner.
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Suicide
fierymoon's review
Graphic: Grief and Medical content
nenya's review
3.75
Didion gives an honest and thought provoking insight into a grieving person‘s mind and struggles while also delivering some insanely impactful quotes.
Graphic: Grief, Medical content, Abandonment, Medical trauma, and Death
solouncapitulomas's review
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Grief, and Death