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jamesnotjim 's review for:
South and West: From a Notebook
by Joan Didion
Quite good. This is the second volume of Didion's nonfiction that I've read, the first being [b:The Year of Magical Thinking|7815|The Year of Magical Thinking|Joan Didion|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327878638l/7815._SY75_.jpg|1659905]. This collection, though fragmentary and impressionistic in places, is moving and, as is typical for Didion, beautifully written. Having lived in the south most of my life, Didion's impressions (she grew up in California) are interesting and, for the most part, on point.
South and West is not a book full of judgements. It's more a collection of deft observations, left intentionally understated. This gives it a certain filmic, documentary quality that is both enjoyable and effective. In fact, it leaves me wanting to read more of her work, if only to bask in her prose style, which I didn't fully appreciate in the former book, it's content being so engrossing on its own.
Didion spends most of her time, on this month-long trip undertook in 1970, in Mississippi and a bit in Alabama. I never lived in either--having grown up in Texas and Arkansas--but I've visited most of the towns she mentions, though quite a number of years later.
South and West is not a book full of judgements. It's more a collection of deft observations, left intentionally understated. This gives it a certain filmic, documentary quality that is both enjoyable and effective. In fact, it leaves me wanting to read more of her work, if only to bask in her prose style, which I didn't fully appreciate in the former book, it's content being so engrossing on its own.
Didion spends most of her time, on this month-long trip undertook in 1970, in Mississippi and a bit in Alabama. I never lived in either--having grown up in Texas and Arkansas--but I've visited most of the towns she mentions, though quite a number of years later.