The Year of Magical Thinking

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It's a hit!

I confess that I postponed reading this book for over a year. I bought it because of the reviews, and also because I am very fond of Didion's writi... (show more)

I confess that I postponed reading this book for over a year. I bought it because of the reviews, and also because I am very fond of Didion's writing - and then I left it on the shelf. With hindsight, I'd say that there were too many friends dying around me for me wanting to read about grief and mourning.
But once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. And I didn't want to finish the book, I started reading it all over again when I arrived at the end.
It isn't only about grief and mourning - it is also a portrait of a marriage, and even funny at times.As always, Didion's writing is crystal clear, her descriptions of people, situations, feeelings, states of mind are so very much to the point that it is almost breath taking: "Yes, this is it!", I wanted to exclaim each time.
Also, it is very well construed, despite the 'confusion', the 'crazyness' she found herself in after the sudden death of her husband (while her daughter was in coma... ). it is almost as if Didion takes a few steps back to look at herself. I think I am going to re-read this. And re-read it again... (show less)

 

 

by Jacqueline Wesselius

No, it's a flop!

I expected this book to be an exposition on mortality and what the death of a loved one conjures up in those that are left to deal with the (seemin... (show more)

I expected this book to be an exposition on mortality and what the death of a loved one conjures up in those that are left to deal with the (seeming) emotional wreckage of such a loss. What I did find was a rather mundane run-down of what one could feel or might feel through the eyes of historians and writers long dead themselves rather than what Didion herself feels or thinks. I longed for questions to be asked that she didn't seem interested in pondering: what does the death of one's closest companion say about life, one's own or theirs? What does it all mean? Is there a meaning? Do our lives matter after our spouse is gone? How can we find normalcy? What does grief really FEEL like? If you're numb, write about that. If you feel like you've perpetually gotten the wind knocked out of you, write about that. Write what you actually feel!

For me, this book was a rather immovable, frustrating experience. Didion remembers what it was to be with her husband: the vacations in Honolulu, trips to Europe, the book signings, the quiet evenings by the fire, having their daughter, but her writing is detached, impassive. She actually seems to write AROUND her own feelings, choosing rather to slip in other people's opinions about death and loss instead.

With all that said, the best bit of the book is her observation that death comes with the ordinary. People die on ordinary days in ordinary circumstances. It can come at any time, and likely will come on any given regular, ordinary day. This point intrigued me. At least it wasn't a total loss. (show less)

 

 

by Chris

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  I picked up this book thinking it was fiction. If I had realized that it was a true story about a writer who tragically and suddenly lost her husband, and how she dealt with her grief over her first year as a widow, I never would have read it.

  And boy, would I have missed out. Although it did cause me to cry a few times, it wasn't depressing. It was a very thoughtful, genuine, and intelligent look at the grieving process, and how far removed we are from it today. How poor our coping mechanis... (show more)

  I picked up this book thinking it was fiction. If I had realized that it was a true story about a writer who tragically and suddenly lost her husband, and how she dealt with her grief over her first year as a widow, I never would have read it.

  And boy, would I have missed out. Although it did cause me to cry a few times, it wasn't depressing. It was a very thoughtful, genuine, and intelligent look at the grieving process, and how far removed we are from it today. How poor our coping mechanisms are, how ill-equipped we are to understand what others are going through when they grieve, and how ill-prepared we are to be put in that situation, as we all eventually will be.

  At the end, I really appreciated being invited to share in Joan Didion's introspective journey, and I can highly recommend others do the same. (show less)

   

  by Sandra on Mar 18, 2009 at 09:26PM

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  "Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know ends."

  These are the opening lines of this honest and lucid record of Joan Didion's experience of the first year following the loss of her beloved husband, John Gregory Dunne. A year complicated by the mysterious illness of her only daughter, Qintana. A year when her own mourning had to be partly shelved as she waited outside the ICU ward where her daughter lay desperately ill and Didion n... (show more)

  "Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know ends."

  These are the opening lines of this honest and lucid record of Joan Didion's experience of the first year following the loss of her beloved husband, John Gregory Dunne. A year complicated by the mysterious illness of her only daughter, Qintana. A year when her own mourning had to be partly shelved as she waited outside the ICU ward where her daughter lay desperately ill and Didion negotiated medical terminology with the usual hurried and harried medical staff. A year when she re-visited her marriage before finally letting it go.

  This remarkable book has a special place on my book shelf in a section I think of, without self-pity or regret, as my Grief Library. When I lost someone special, part of my healing lay in sharing, word for word, the experiences of others. At a time when I could not concentrate on a phone number, let alone a movie or a novel, the authors in my Grief Library were my faithful companions through the valley.

  Joan Didion describes that year of intense emotion as the year of magical thinking. She, like a select few other literary alchemists (Alan Paton, CS Lewis, Emily Dickinson and Thomas Hardy, to mention a few) has the artistry to transform her grief into beauty, into art, into a memorial of words.

  Her style is distinctive: cool, economical, not an adjective wasted. She seems detached and icy even but underneath her pain is naked. Winston Churchill described the "essential structure of the English sentence as a noble thing." He would have approved of Didion's writing. (show less)

   

   

  by Facebook User on Mar 25, 2009 at 04:00PM

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