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h_andreanne's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Dans ce récit, Didion explore son deuil au travers de son biais non adressé de femme très privilégiée. Bien que cela sonne déconnecté de la réalité de la majorité de ses lecteurices, Didion donne sa perspective avec authenticité, le tout supporté de recherche, tant du côté médical que psychologique.
Cette lecture était agréable, car on la voit explorer avec sa raison un évènement qui l'en a déconnectée pendant une année entière.
Cette lecture était agréable, car on la voit explorer avec sa raison un évènement qui l'en a déconnectée pendant une année entière.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Death
americattt's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
"I know why we try to keep the dead alive: we try to keep them alive in order to keep them with us.
I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead.
Let them become the photograph on the table.
Let them become the name on the accounts.
Let go of them in the water."
I also know that if we are to live ourselves there comes a point at which we must relinquish the dead, let them go, keep them dead.
Let them become the photograph on the table.
Let them become the name on the accounts.
Let go of them in the water."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
mimikac's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
meemawreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.0
Woof, y'all. I picked this one up because it was available and Joan Didion is someone whose name I'd heard enough that her books were always on my list to try. I think she's an excellent writer, her memory for detail is frankly intimidating. In comparing my own memory I thought, "Do I have dementia? At 35?" I still want to give some of her fiction a go, but man is her nonfiction not for me!
This book is about the year after Didion's husband dies in front of her of a massive heart attack while their adult daughter is in the ICU. Hard stuff, those with medical trauma and grief sensitivities take care. I don't think this is a bad book, it's just written from such an extreme point of unexamined privilege that I couldn't relate. She attempts to describe something as human as the denial of grief, the emptiness of mourning a person who your instincts still reach out for multiple times a day. There are profound sentences throughout. BUT she uses her entirely unrelatable life circumstances to describe them: which of their houses they were in for this memory, flying to Paris or Honolulu or Milan in that memory, calling their connections at the NY and LA Times for his obituary. This was written in 2005, before conversation about wealth inequality and privilege was common, so I'm not calling Didion a bad feminist for writing honestly about her circumstances... I just can't connect. I'll never have memories full of coast-hopping on private planes, multiple homes, jetting to Hawaii to write a film. The piles of unrelatable anecdotes water down the universality of her grief message. Very out of touch. Two taters 🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
This book is about the year after Didion's husband dies in front of her of a massive heart attack while their adult daughter is in the ICU. Hard stuff, those with medical trauma and grief sensitivities take care. I don't think this is a bad book, it's just written from such an extreme point of unexamined privilege that I couldn't relate. She attempts to describe something as human as the denial of grief, the emptiness of mourning a person who your instincts still reach out for multiple times a day. There are profound sentences throughout. BUT she uses her entirely unrelatable life circumstances to describe them: which of their houses they were in for this memory, flying to Paris or Honolulu or Milan in that memory, calling their connections at the NY and LA Times for his obituary. This was written in 2005, before conversation about wealth inequality and privilege was common, so I'm not calling Didion a bad feminist for writing honestly about her circumstances... I just can't connect. I'll never have memories full of coast-hopping on private planes, multiple homes, jetting to Hawaii to write a film. The piles of unrelatable anecdotes water down the universality of her grief message. Very out of touch. Two taters 🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma
Moderate: Grief
sakisreads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
2.0
✨ Thrifted ✨
Unfortunately, I could not enjoy this book 🫠 I felt like I was constantly reading the same things again and again. I absolutely appreciated the grief involved, and I’ll put the quotes I thought were most impactful below, but I just felt like it was challenging to read. I consistently had to force myself to pick it back up…
But anyhow, here are the quotes I mentioned 🥲
‘Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailies of life.’
‘The recognition of this thought by no means eradicated the thought.’
I maybe have to read some more reviews and reread some parts, but for me it definitely was another failed BookTok recommendation 🥺
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
hermione_gilmore's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Wow this book was just amazing I didn’t expect that. I can’t even tell you why but it just mesmerised me like it’s so well-written and everything that happens I don’t know just wow. I mean it’s horrible of course but still this was a really amazing book, definitely gonna reread it and would recommend it to literally everyone.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content, Death, and Grief
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.5
this was such an interesting book due to the intense feelings of grief paired with feeling numb.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Medical content, Death, Grief, Blood, and Medical trauma
amanda_marie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
A lesson in how life can change in an instant, and your brain can struggle to hold on to what no longer is. Also an illumination in what it was like to be a successful writer in a different era.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, and Grief
rebeccazacuto's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
An intimate recollection of grief by one of the greats. Didion is concise and sharp yet poignant and vulnerable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Child death
drrayeraye's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, and Medical content