Customer Reviews
don't waste your time - By: T. Osborn, 09 Jun 2008 
This book was way too long.... about 250 pages way too long in fact. I don't quite know what a reader is supposed to surmise from it. For a seemingly intelligent woman the author showed a remarkable lack of insight into the nature & existence of life & its end result. So caught up in the smalllest detail (to a boringly obsessive degree in fact) the bigger picture was totallly lost on her. I found it totallly unmoving.
Life-affirming - By: Victoria Blessing, 15 Apr 2008 
Although the idea behind the book may sound a bit maudlin & miserable Didion is so lacking in self-pity & writes so eloquently & intelligently about the state of grief that it is anything but - if anything it is life-affirming. She has such dignity. Definitely worth a read, whether or not you are grieving yourself.
The Year of Magical Thinking - By: A. Page AC, 02 Mar 2008 
What a waste of time. I found this book very frustrating to read & I couldn't wait to finish it. Why did it win an award I have no idea.
It looked so good... - By: Alexa Thompson, 27 Jun 2007 When I am unsure of a book, i tend to read the first page. This one grabbed me, so I bought it. several chapters in to this book, I began to get frustrated with it. I understand that grief is an enormous thing to go through - life-changing. The writer came across as aloof, & elitist - interfering with doctors when her daughter was ill (just because you about something does not make you an expert), always in a hotel or restaurant... (she began to annoy me with these constant references throughout the book. I couldn't wait to finish it & go & buy something else)
I'm sorry to say the book did little for me at alll. I liked the way that she wrote in her thought patterns, but otherwise i think it was medicinal rambling that happened to be published. If my diaries when I had depression had been published many would say the same. I don't think this was meant to be seen - maybe a last-choice decision. However if it was intended to be seen then this isn't the read I would have expected.
The Year of Incoherent Privileged Thinking - By: A. Ross, 27 May 2007 Presumably, people will come to this book for one of three reasons: (A) They are looking for insight into grief & the process of mourning. (B) They are Joan Didion fans. (C) They've read one of the glowing reviews, or otherwise heard the "buzz" about this National Book Award winner. Addressing these in reverse order: (C) the "buzz" strikes me as literati rewarding one of their own for subpar performance. (B) I've never read Didion, but I have to believe she's capable of much better than this. (A) there's nothing to be learned here about grief -- which may be the point. At one point Didion writes that the grief of losing a loved one is by its very nature, unknowable. In keeping with this pronouncement, the reader will learn little about grief other than it is a vast void or emptiness & meaninglessness that can make one literallly insane.
As if to prove this last point, Didion writes about losing her husband of forty years to a sudden heart attack as they are sitting down to dinner in about as distanced & unconnected a manner as possible. It's almost as if she set out to write the anti-grief memoir, because she doesn't portray herself as a particularly empathetic person. Which is fine, I'm not looking for warm fuzzies or solace, just a little coherence. And unfortunately, it's in very short supply -- the book reads like the scattered thoughts of a journal, & perhaps that the stage it should have been left at. But by alllowing its publication, Didion achieves the formidable task of portraying herself as a woman who has lost both husband & daughter, & yet is totallly unsympathetic.
Aside from the content, which is a mix of medical reportage, quoting from studies on grief, ruminations on her past, snippets of poetry & prose, the book is marred by a very problematic tone. There's a very distinct elitist thread running throughout the book, & it's hard to understand why Didion would have written it that way. Her reflections on her married life contain innumerable references to a highly privileged lifestyle (staying for weeks at the Beverly Wiltshire, flying from LA to SF for dinner, buying clothes at fancy boutiques, eating at the toniest restaurants, homemade dinners with the literati, etc.). On top of this, in detailing her struggle to understand her husband's death & daughter's coma, she allludes to her special access to doctors, private jets, clinics, etc. beyond the means of "regular" folks. It's hard to imagine that "regular" Didion wouldn't recognize the impression she was creating, but since the book was written & published whilst still in deep grief, perhaps she didn't.
Yes, it's sad that she lost her husband & collaborator, but there's something very distancing in her account of it alll. And it's hard not to feel slightly manipulated when a good way into the book you learn that her husband had a history of heart trouble & wore a pacemaker, making his coronary somewhat less dramatic than her telling of it. Even more telling is the deliberate omission of his age anywhere in the book -- 71. Since it's not exactly shocking for someone of that age & medical background to drop dead, these kinds of decisions have the appearance of being made in order to foster more sympathy for Didion. Yet another problematic area relates to her daughter's case, which is treated in great detail throughout & simply vanishes at the end of the book. Her daughter died while the book was still in production & according to reports, Didion chose not to make any revisions to reflect this.
No doubt I am being churlish to some degree for criticizing Didion's portrayal of her experience. It's her life, her tragedy, & she certainly has every right to represent it however she would like to. However, placing it in the commercial realm makes it subject to comment, & my own feeling is that its simply not a very good book. That said, there are glimpses here & there of sharp writing & analysis which makes me think I might like one of her past collections of essays. Still, I can't imagine anyone going through the loss of a loved one would find this book helpful or illuminating in any way.
