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deedireads's review against another edition
4.75
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Year of Magical Thinking is the best parts of Joan Didion — shart, unapologetic, perfect sentences — but, by nature of the topic (grief), more personal and less detached. That was a winning recipe for me.
For you if: You like Joan Didion, memoirs, emotional books, or all of the above.
FULL REVIEW:
“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity.”
So begins the fourth and final book I read as part of a formal reading group with the Center for Fiction, led by Lynn Steger Strong (who, by the way, was an incredible instructor). I’m so glad we read it last; my experience was so much deeper having read her early work and knowing a bit about her ethos and her style.
This book is a memoir that covers the one-year stretch of time following the sudden death of Joan’s husband, John. He had a heart attack one evening at home and died almost instantly. This happened while their only daughter, Quintana, was fighting for her life in the hospital in full septic shock (which turned out to only be the beginning). Didion’s “magical thinking” refers, mainly, to the illogic of her grieving mind as she lived through a period of time that many of us would dare not even imagine.
It’s hard to say whether this was my favorite book from the class because I understood her style better and could compare it to the other things I read, or if it was because it’s just such a deeply personal work — which, before this book, we never really got from her at all. Probably the combination of the two. Didion’s skill, on both micro (sentence) and macro (whole book) levels, is fully developed here. The result is a moving, profound, deeply powerful depiction of grief. Having read her earlier work, we can see how much the experience changed her (and not) even as she writes about how much it changed her (and not).
I definitely recommend this one, but I’d say to get the full appreciation, it’s worth picking up at least one of her early essay collections before you do.
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Death of a spouse; Serious illness of one’s child; Grief; Medical content
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Medical content
ada171's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Death and Medical content
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Blood
lucinotlucy's review
4.5
Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical trauma
hannah_cook's review
4.5
Graphic: Grief and Death
Moderate: Medical content and Terminal illness
caribbeangirlreading's review
Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, Medical trauma, and Medical content
daniellekat's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Medical content, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness
mswarning's review
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
lenaboving's review
5.0
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content
sammantha's review
4.75
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Blood, and Medical content
Minor: Suicide, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Murder, War, and Drug use
peggyoliver's review
Graphic: Grief and Death
Moderate: Medical content