A review by diane15
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion

3.5

A few of these essays, particularly Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, I really really enjoyed, but the majority weren’t a good fit for me. Didion’s style is polarizing - I think if you find her as a person interesting, you’ll find her personal reflections interesting, but to me they’re too self indulgent.

That being said, this essay collection does have one of my favorite lines I’ve read this year, from the titular essay that profiles a number of teenagers in the hippie movement.
“One day Norris asks how old I am. I tell him I am thirty two. It takes a few minutes, but Norris rises to it. ‘Don’t worry,’ he says at last. ‘There’s old hippies too.’ “

Also from this essay is a child calling his mother an all-American bitch, and I remember reading in an interview that was Olivia Rodrigo’s inspiration for her song. Didion is the original cool girl, and Olivia is absolutely today’s cool girl, and while I am not a cool girl, the pop girl lover in me does love to trace cool girl history ❤️