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DiscountDelight - The Year of Magical Thinking
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List Price: $23.95
Our Price: $10.99
Your Save: $ 12.96 ( 54% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Knopf
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9781400043149
ISBN: 140004314X
Label: Knopf
Manufacturer: Knopf
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2005-10-04
Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: 2005-10-04
Studio: Knopf
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent.
Comment: With "The Year of Magical Thinking" Joan Didion has written a compelling memoir of loss and grace. Sitting down to dinner one night in December 2003, her husband of 40 years, John Gregory Dunne, had a heart attack and died. At the time, their daughter Quintana was battling a disease that would eventually take her life in the summer of 2005.
You would think this would be a downer to read, but Didion's gift is that she is able to write about these horrific events with grace and perspective. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and would recommend it to everyone.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Memorable Read
Comment: My takeaway from the book was the experience of a rare and unique marriage, where she and her husband nearly spent every full day and night together- to the point where she wanted to locate a letter of his written to her, as a keepsake after his death only to realize that he never wrote her a letter because they had never been apart long enough to warrant the writing of a letter. They were completely committed to one another in the true sense of marriage, which I believe has been lost over the years by many Americans as evidence of an ever-increasing divorce rate. I am single and entrenched in the hurried life of a career-oriented 30-year old. Her book provides a detailed perspective of a life full of personal, social and career successes- making the pain of losing her life partner palpable. This is a very memorable read and I am thankful that Didion had the courage to share her experience with such beautiful prose.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For some it's cold, for some it's just right
Comment: This book is definitely worth reading for several stirring passages about what grief does to Didion. Her style is definitely not for everyone. There are moments of boomeresque naval-gazing which I think is what puts off some of the other reviewers, as well as a layering of sometimes unnecessary detail. (I'm surprised at how many people are offended that other people travel, hobnob and enjoy knowing interesting people.) Perhaps the thing that I most come away with is the humiliation of grief, how it renders us impotent, cold, alone, humbled, unreachable. It affects us least when we feel we are not hearing her voice as much as her assembling grief studies and poetry into artifice. It affects us most when we feel we are hearing her.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Real Grief, But LOTS of Name-Dropping
Comment: I read this book because I too have experienced a sudden death that made me want to think that somehow, the person was still alive. While there is real grief in this book, there's also lots of name-dropping, lavish lifestyles and a real feel of, 'Well I'd like to make myself out to be an everyday woman going through tragedy, but really, I'm not.' Sorry if this stings but oh well. I expected a book about what happened and how it was dealt with and I guess it's in there, but there's also lots of jabs that prove that Didion wants you to know she's just a little better than most of us.
Customer Rating:
Summary: 200 pages of magical prose
Comment: I loved this book! From the smart and subtle cover design to the last sentence, it was infused with insight and caring. While the events in this memoir surround tragedy, I'm left thinking about the wonderful life of John Dunne, the amazing writing of Joan Didion, and envious of both.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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 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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