The Year of Magical Thinking

A totally repetitive grief-inducing book with a lot of factual and superfluous data to support its own irrational way of thinking, that is totally irrationally rational.

Ah, how could one name a book like this. First or two chapters were fine, standard courses to introduce the event of the writer's husband's death and were actually pretty captivating (and that's why I bought the book).

And the rest were...insufferable.

That self-absorbance was not quite the big reason. More of that was due to it's repetitive account of the events. Grandma's whines, again insufferable to me. Or let's assume I'm just a heartless person, anyway.

Alright, might do this book some justice. It would be better if Joan wrote the entire book wholly focused on her own writing and her personal experience, like honestly do I really need to know the causes of heart attack when I'm a biology student? Thank you, next.

Anyway, I might just drop it in the darkest corner of my home. You might rest well there.

6/10

I have (very fortunately) never lost someone close to me so it was a little difficult to relate to Didion. I also felt there was way too much of medical jargon and locations specific to Cali and NY, which meant nothing to me.

Nonetheless, I could tell that she's a great writer and I'm looking forward to reading her other work. This just wasn't the best first book to read.

This was my first [a:Joan Didion 238 Joan Didion https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1335450818p2/238.jpg] and I was left a bit cold. Parts of it were interesting, where it read as a personal memoir rather than a list of events. Towards the end she described on how her grief had changed over the twelve months, which I found interesting. I also liked when she looked back on her last years with her husband to identify any signs that had foreshadowed his death. These personal stories about him and what kind of man he was helped to connect with the grief that she was feeling.I didn't read this book to be inspired or as comfort, but even so it felt a bit flat. I look forward to reading some of her other books, despite this not being the best introduction.

I suspect that I wouldn't be a huge fan of Didion's fiction, since she seems to be the type of woman to pride herself on not being a “typical woman” (you know, lots of slightly misogynistic male friends, blah blah blah), which drives me bonkers. However, I guess everyone is made a little more vulnerable by grief, and I found much of her memoir to be deeply moving. Well-written without ever slipping into cliches, which is a pretty formidable accomplishment given the subject matter. Strangely uplifting at the end.

So Insightful. Reading The Year of Magical Thinking was like being inside Joan Didion's heart and mind at the same time. So extraordinarily poignant. The prose is so eloquent. Every single paragraph is equivalent to a punch in the best possible way. I can already see myself reading this again and again.

The people who didn't care for this tend to be bothered by the author being successful, or having successful friends – but I knew that going in. Reading is supposed to make you more empathetic, and all the money and famous friends in the world can't shield someone from loss, mourning, and grief.

Joan Didion is called a cool customer early on in the book, and that sums it up – she is calm, measured, and thoughtful in her writing, not at all prone to histrionics, which made me as a reader respond in a similar manner as she explores a very bad year in her life.

“You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” Didion does a wonderful job of letting us experience her mind in the year after her husband died of a heart attack. Memories and stories from the past are loosely told as she gives us the sense of how her thought process became “mudgy.” If you like meandering stories capturing a life experience, you will enjoy this memoir.

I heard many many things about this book, all good things, and when I finally found the time to pick it up I was honestly surprised by how short it was! But, it lacked no amount of poignancy. To be honest, there were sections while reading where my mind did wander here or there but not due to a lack of interest, just due to how Joan's writing style was. For a moment we would be caught on her husband John, then we were knee-deep in details about heart conditions she read up about, then we were whisked to a memory she had with John or her daughter Quntana. It wasn't my lack of interest, it was just the way she wrote so true to herself and how she was feeling and how one thought reminded her of another and another, and that was what really stuck out to me about this book. It was lovely to hear how connected she felt to her husband and daughter so truly, but all the more tragic when considering both of them might not have known the depths of this connection. I'm not sure if I'll ever desire to read this again, but I don't think I'll forget the emotions Joan dredged up and shared that she felt.

When you have never read an author, a well-known author, a highly respected author, it is always a happy feeling to pick up that first read and find everyone was right. With Didion, for me, it wasn't a case of love at first sight; she grew on me. I finished the book last Sunday, but I thought about it every day this week. Truthful. I think that's the word I'd use for her writing. She seemed to write as clearly and as objectively as she could. Her subject matter, the death of her beloved husband, was so emotional, yet she was able to look at the event almost like Jane Goodall with her chimps.

3.5 Joan Didion is a spectacular writer. I did find the exploration of grief interesting, complex, and nuanced. I found her tendency to focus on getting information and taking control in moments of crisis relatable. However, for a book focused on so many emotionally charged topics, this book made me feel nothing. I cannot put my finger on why this is, but it did not tug on the heartstrings in the way I wanted it to. If I had to guess, this same tendency to rationalize emotional situations to prevent yourself from feeling the full extent of the pain had the same effect on me, as a reader. It was good, but it wasn't great.

This book was my first of Didion and introduced me to her work. This book is one of the best I have read about grief, loss, and the mental and physical toll it takes on you. Didion is raw, and real in this book, and uses beautiful metaphors and analogies to describe this year of her life, and subsequently the impact on the rest of her life.

I guess... I had different expections for this book? Which I realize is on me, not on Joan Didion? I thought it would be more of a narrative of her grief after her husband's sudden death and her daughter's illness (she died right before this was published but after the book was written, in fact). But like... I would say at least 1/3 of this book was descriptions of beach houses and hotels she and her husband used to stay in.The parts where she actually describes her grief and weird, magical emotions are the most interesting.I kinda feel like she published this too soon after her husband's death and if she'd waited awhile and revised it maybe the book would have been stronger for it. But perhaps it is more honest for its immediacy, even if the immediacy led to me wondering if this book was sponsored by the Beverly Wilshire hotel. (In fairness, it sounds like a very nice hotel, and if I could afford to stay there I suppose it might figure heavily into my own memoir.)Also, why did this win the National Book Award?? Like... did people feel bad for her, or was everything else published in 2005 terrible, or did I just completely not get this book?IDK, for my money if you want to read a compelling narrative about grief, try [b:A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius 4953 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Dave Eggers http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327714834s/4953.jpg 42857]... but I know a lot of people hate that book so your mileage may vary.