From one of America’s iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion. Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience: a portrait of a marriage–and a life, in good times and bad–that will speak to anyone who has ever loved a husband or wife or child.Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall … Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later–the night before New Year’s Eve–the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a massive and fatal coronary. In a second, this close, symbiotic partnership of forty years was over. Four weeks later, their daughter pulled through. Two months after that, arriving at LAX, she collapsed and underwent six hours of brain surgery at UCLA Medical Center to relieve a massive hematoma.
This powerful book is Didion’ s attempt to make sense of the “weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself.”
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Made me realize how this story could be mine at any time. I was able to identify with the author.
I love every book l have read of this author. Her writing ability is superb, you just can’t put it down even when she is writing about life’s losses.
Joan Didion is a superb and honest writer. One of my favorite books.
Loved it! Main character was an older woman who took a risk. We older women need to wake up and try new things. Great read.
I happen to be a long time fan of Didion. This true scene to scene book tells of the death of her husband and how she managed their life Alone. it was Excellent! S V
It’s about grief, and you either like Didion’s sparse style or you don’t. I found it moving on the page and later as a play.
Exquisite memoir examining grief.
I’d forgotten what a solid writer she was. Eclectic, enjoyable.
GREAT WRITER.
The author shared her journey which was an uphill climb and thought-provoking.
A wonderful read, I found it to be inspirational.
I loved this book and gave it to my sister in law after we lost my brother.
This book was recommended to me shortly after my husband passed away. Didion is an exquisite writer who describes all of the deeply, painful emotions that come with the loss of a loved one that was somehow very healing.
Didion at her best!
Joan Didion peels back the curtain on immense loss and the need – sometimes I wished – for surviving in the face of tragedy. A love note to her late husband, but one we can all appreciate and learn from.
I read this book shortly after my father died. It was comforting and elevating at a time when I needed a fellow traveler in my grief. Nobody writes like Didion, but this was like delving into her soul and finding yourself embraced there.
The book was boring and made it difficult to complete reading it.
This book made me think about the fragility of life and how suddenly life can change beyond our imagining.
Her story telling is perfect and unapologetic, and so real that it turns fake. Then you know when her imagination takes over because things get magically heartbreaking and relentlessly real.
After the sudden loss of my MIL, a friend recommended The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
I’m not sure if I can say I enjoyed this book.
It’s not a book to be enjoyed.
It’s heartbreaking and thought-provoking. And something I really needed to read.
If you’re struggling with grief and loss, I’d highly recommend it.