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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
A really tricky book to rate. A posthumous publication of Joan Didion’s written-up therapy sessions from 2000-2001 as she tries to aid her alcoholic daughter’s recovery. The title is misleading as very little of this book features John Dunne in any capacity. The writing feels undeniably Didion. I’m unsure if this was ever intended to be published but it reads like her usual non-fiction. It is slightly messier than usual, I’m assuming as it had not undergone her usual scrutiny. Additionally, being a work in progress - it very much feels like it’s missing that steely Didion commentary. It’s purely just transcribed therapy sessions with interjections of small reflections. Very “I said” and then “he said”. I struggled to read more than a few entries at a time. With this being non-fiction, there’s also no huge arc here. Didion explores a few different areas of her upbringing and behaviours in therapy as they become relevant but there’s little progress in the narrative of her daughter’s ongoing alcohol problem. I feel like I read the same conversation regarding Quintana’s employment and relapses over and over again. It’s a harrowing portrayal of a mother lost in how to handle her daughter’s cyclical alcoholism but the lack of progress doesn’t translate well to a novel without something more to tie it together. It feels repetitive and there’s no major therapeutic breakthrough to aid this. It feels more like a skeleton of a novel than anything intended for consumption.
I wish I would’ve continued to read some of Didion’s more central work before this. This is an addendum for Blue Nights and far from an essential read. I’m sure a version intended for publication would’ve exceeded this but as a clear work-in-progress, (possibly abandoned given that it was written 20 years before her death??), it’s a struggle to recommend as a priority in the Didion canon.
I wish I would’ve continued to read some of Didion’s more central work before this. This is an addendum for Blue Nights and far from an essential read. I’m sure a version intended for publication would’ve exceeded this but as a clear work-in-progress, (possibly abandoned given that it was written 20 years before her death??), it’s a struggle to recommend as a priority in the Didion canon.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
medium-paced
sad
slow-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
dark
sad
fast-paced
I don't really want to give this book a star review. It felt like a violation reading this...when I started this book I did not realize it was compiled of retyped private therapy sessions about their daughter. I had the ick the whole time, but about halfway through I decided to just finish out of respect to Joan, John, Quintana, and their pain. I understand that these sessions are in her public archive, I just don't approve.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced