A review by macroscopicentric
Miami by Joan Didion

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0

This is not a 101 book. Didion expects you to come in having a background understanding in Miami, southern Florida, and Cuba's history already, and then builds on those to create a series of impressions. Out of the Didion I've read so far, this is the book that reminded me most of Hunter S. Thompson's work, in that it's writing about the experiences she had while interviewing and researching for stories and not about the stories themselves. I had to pause early on and do some extensive Wikipedia'ing just to know anything Didion casually references. Even with the context, though, this is a book that surfs on vibes and impressions. You won't walk away well-informed but you will definitely walk away amused (or maybe bemused).