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kpanagod's review against another edition
3.0
I was gonna give this 4 stars but I feel like that’s too generous considering I was bored for most of the time reading this.
I loved Didion’s writing, it’s so beautiful and captivating but this book has so many longggg quotes from other people and I feel like I would’ve rather heard Didion’s summary and analysis of the subjects rather than reading so much direct quotation. The best parts of the book are Didion’s witty insights, but the majority of the book consists of notes about specific places, dates, names, etc. However, I understand that this is technically a notebook and I don’t entirely hate it because it gave me a good sample of her writing style.
I’m inclined to read more of her work because I adored her writing and I feel like this book didn’t have quite enough of it.
I loved Didion’s writing, it’s so beautiful and captivating but this book has so many longggg quotes from other people and I feel like I would’ve rather heard Didion’s summary and analysis of the subjects rather than reading so much direct quotation. The best parts of the book are Didion’s witty insights, but the majority of the book consists of notes about specific places, dates, names, etc. However, I understand that this is technically a notebook and I don’t entirely hate it because it gave me a good sample of her writing style.
I’m inclined to read more of her work because I adored her writing and I feel like this book didn’t have quite enough of it.
trin's review against another edition
3.0
Scraps. This didn't need to be a book, except that Joan Didion ephemera is still full of phenomenal sentences, sharp and potent observations.
This book filled me with a longing for the road, and for a probably wholly imaginary, romanticized vision of a slower, more dignified, lost past. Simultaneously, it filled me with horror for the shocking, vilely racist reality of the actual past--both are somehow present in this book.
I shudder to think about which I would find more of if I went on a similar trip through the South today.
This book filled me with a longing for the road, and for a probably wholly imaginary, romanticized vision of a slower, more dignified, lost past. Simultaneously, it filled me with horror for the shocking, vilely racist reality of the actual past--both are somehow present in this book.
I shudder to think about which I would find more of if I went on a similar trip through the South today.