rosieesumner 's review for:

Notes to John by Joan Didion

4.75

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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Another one of Didion's works that I absolutely loved!! I was a little reluctant to read a posthumous work especially one that has been put together from Joan Didion's private notes and writings after her death. I was so glad I read The Year of Magical Thinking before this to give it some context even thought the chronology of this book is a step back in time. Even in her writings of nonfiction and private notes Joan Didion's prose is gorgeous, she was born to be a writer!! I wonder what she'd think of this, how she would have edited it and whether or not she ever would want these notes to be read in the first place. Definitely a slow and at times difficult read because of the subject matter, I enjoyed taking it slow and reflecting on each one of her entries. It's so interesting to see how psychology has both developed and stayed the same over time and how shifts in schools of thought and new discoveries have influenced psychiatric practices. It's also interesting to see how the devastating impacts of both overt and covert generational trauma can influence our every day lives and the way we choose and sometimes don't choose but rather feel forced to live. Would definitely recommend :)