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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
god, there is something so comforting in Joan Didion's cold prose that I have never been able to find in another author. Even though a lot of this book affects topics that are so far away temporally and geographically from me, that I don't always understand the dimension of her evaluation, there were still so many moments that made me almost teary eyed. And it's literally just quotes and notes from her travels in the South. There's something about Didion's insistence on trying to understand herself in relation to her surroundings, trying to analyse the sense of difference and bewilderment expeirenced upon encountering that which she do not know. Her constant questioning, analysis of details that constitute the true reality of people, that most will likely always overlook. Her way of moving through the world and thinking of it are so special and precious to me and it makes me so deeply sad to know that there is a finite number now of her accounts. Her loss is something I genuinely deeply mourn to this day and it's already been almost two years... maybe it's time to reread year of magical thinking again for the 6th time.
adventurous
informative
fast-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
I only realized this was a compilation of her notebook excerpts after I read the book. Is this how she journaled? It has threads here and there weaving through the excerpts. It has A start and an end.
There is an air of desolateness and an undercurrent of larger things at play (the same ones as today, racism, politics, we made so little progress). It feels like the author is troubled with unsaid things in her own life as she journeyed through the South and makes observation.
I do like how decentralized it is. Not everything has to have a narrative and a moral of the story.
There is an air of desolateness and an undercurrent of larger things at play (the same ones as today, racism, politics, we made so little progress). It feels like the author is troubled with unsaid things in her own life as she journeyed through the South and makes observation.
I do like how decentralized it is. Not everything has to have a narrative and a moral of the story.
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Most of the book is centered on Didion's notes from a trip through the South. As someone who grew up in New Orleans and took a couple road trips to other cities in the Deep South in early childhood I was struck by how intimately I felt I knew and understood the landscape and characters she portrayed. While some of the same tropes as usual depictions of the South emerged, some of it was presented almost without judgement and that made it much easier to enjoy.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
reflective
sad
medium-paced