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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Maybe it matters when you read this book. Not sure the style and pacing and structure really worked for me. Some poignant reflections though.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent
content - 3.5/10
style - 1.5/10
resonance - 4/10
i was really hyped for this one.... everyone is going on and on about how great joan didion is but.... its giving CRICKETS. this book is relatively interesting in its exploration of grief and the universality of that experience, that no amount of money or fame or clout is going to help you and your loved ones run away from death knocking on your door. but GOD DAMN does she remind you throughout about how much money and fame and clout she has, reminding you that she is staying at THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL while her daughter is in the hospital and that her wedding was featured IN PEOPLES MAGAZINE. and it's like yea grief is universal but like..... is it??? is it when she has all these connections at top hospitals in new york and LA??? it just got really frustrating to read because it just felt like one massive casual brag mascaraeded behind a thoughtful premise
i feel bad giving this a bad review because it is really sad what she went through in losing her husband while her daughter was in the hospital but..... reading this book in this economy? GIRL it only made me bitter.... i only finished it cause it was short enough :/ disappointing and worst book of the year so far sorry ms girl
style - 1.5/10
resonance - 4/10
i was really hyped for this one.... everyone is going on and on about how great joan didion is but.... its giving CRICKETS. this book is relatively interesting in its exploration of grief and the universality of that experience, that no amount of money or fame or clout is going to help you and your loved ones run away from death knocking on your door. but GOD DAMN does she remind you throughout about how much money and fame and clout she has, reminding you that she is staying at THE BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL while her daughter is in the hospital and that her wedding was featured IN PEOPLES MAGAZINE. and it's like yea grief is universal but like..... is it??? is it when she has all these connections at top hospitals in new york and LA??? it just got really frustrating to read because it just felt like one massive casual brag mascaraeded behind a thoughtful premise
i feel bad giving this a bad review because it is really sad what she went through in losing her husband while her daughter was in the hospital but..... reading this book in this economy? GIRL it only made me bitter.... i only finished it cause it was short enough :/ disappointing and worst book of the year so far sorry ms girl
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
it’s the most straightforward lines that knock me hardest off my feet
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
reflective
fast-paced
This book is for so few people unfortunately. I will say it was interesting to learn more about the little realities of the sixties, like the Smiles.
5 stars because of how deeply I resonated with so much of this book; unfortunately (me self-pitying). Coming up on the one year anniversary of my moms passing and Joan writes towards the end, “I realized today for the first time that my memory of this day a year ago is a memory that does not involve John. John did not see this day a year ago.” Thinking about the last times together such last vacations, last presents, last words hit home and is something I’ve been struggling coping with; the void of it all. Grief does in fact feel like suspense and Didion quotes C.S. Lewis “it comes from the frustration of so many impulses that had become habitual”. I loved chatting with my mom, the amount of times I have wished I could just chat about her own death to her have been many; I wish she her here to be a comfort through it.
To zoom out on the book as a whole, I believed it really encapsulated the grieving mind and how it jumps around. One minute Didion is talking about the story of her husbands death, to scientific research on cardiac issues, to a psychoanalysis on her own actions, to fixating “on locating the anomaly that could have allowed this to happen” and questioning how she could have helped or prevented the situation and then back to think pieces on grief. At first I thought wow this is kind of all over the place I thought this was more so a book on grief but then I zoomed out and realized how similarly her writing patterns throughout this book reflect many of my own ebbing and flowing thought processes. This book is physical evidence of grief not being linear and how you have to go with the change.
I’m not proofreading so disregard any spelling errors. This was more of a journal entry.
To zoom out on the book as a whole, I believed it really encapsulated the grieving mind and how it jumps around. One minute Didion is talking about the story of her husbands death, to scientific research on cardiac issues, to a psychoanalysis on her own actions, to fixating “on locating the anomaly that could have allowed this to happen” and questioning how she could have helped or prevented the situation and then back to think pieces on grief. At first I thought wow this is kind of all over the place I thought this was more so a book on grief but then I zoomed out and realized how similarly her writing patterns throughout this book reflect many of my own ebbing and flowing thought processes. This book is physical evidence of grief not being linear and how you have to go with the change.
I’m not proofreading so disregard any spelling errors. This was more of a journal entry.