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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
about time i found a joan didion book i don't like. blaming the subject matter mostly, though
Prescient look at the political trends of the end of the twentieth century
informative
fast-paced
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฏ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐จ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ค๐บ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ธ.โ
- The last line of the book, which Didion wrote in 2000 in an essay titled ๐๐ฐ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ
Sadly though, this new generation is so cooked that it doesnโt have the literary skills to stay competent in a turning country. Disappointment streaks these last days of 2024, and Iโm glad I made the decision to leave the country that I wanted to call home for so long that it seems so foreign to me. It seems so foreign because ugliness has, once again, reigned truth of character.
Though mostly dry, a majority of the rub lies in points made on Reagan and Clinton and their character versus their overall person when it comes to campaigning, not until Clinton ruined that by misplacing morality with his scandal.
When it comes right down to it, I donโt think the public is ready to admit that polices are actually what make the country when they spend so much time trivializing on character. On social media. On making appearances. All of this matters. It matters because it is public. It matters because 90% of success is showing up. But when you realize itโs all grand show and big talk with very little work towards a good place for good people, the US has decided that history must repeat itself to show itโs an old dog that knows no new tricks.
Didion predicted the divide. She saw it since Dukakis. She detailed everything out for us, only to be doomed in the end.
*so glad I saved this now for a better understanding of a country I want so much to love, but have left it [for good].
- The last line of the book, which Didion wrote in 2000 in an essay titled ๐๐ฐ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ
Sadly though, this new generation is so cooked that it doesnโt have the literary skills to stay competent in a turning country. Disappointment streaks these last days of 2024, and Iโm glad I made the decision to leave the country that I wanted to call home for so long that it seems so foreign to me. It seems so foreign because ugliness has, once again, reigned truth of character.
Though mostly dry, a majority of the rub lies in points made on Reagan and Clinton and their character versus their overall person when it comes to campaigning, not until Clinton ruined that by misplacing morality with his scandal.
When it comes right down to it, I donโt think the public is ready to admit that polices are actually what make the country when they spend so much time trivializing on character. On social media. On making appearances. All of this matters. It matters because it is public. It matters because 90% of success is showing up. But when you realize itโs all grand show and big talk with very little work towards a good place for good people, the US has decided that history must repeat itself to show itโs an old dog that knows no new tricks.
Didion predicted the divide. She saw it since Dukakis. She detailed everything out for us, only to be doomed in the end.
*so glad I saved this now for a better understanding of a country I want so much to love, but have left it [for good].
I can think of few writers who can write with such clarity and incision about the US political classes, and Iโve recommended this to no fewer than four people over the course of reading it.
Reading this, during the current political climate, is depressing. As Didion points out, everything about elections are theater and even worse, farce. Is anything genuine? People voted for Trump because they felt he was the real deal. Real deal what, though? Also, with all the nostalgia for the 1980s, from music to fashion, I, having lived the 80's, was reminded by Didion how politically corrupt the Reagan White House was. I cringed through the Clinton and Gingrich years..reliving this history is painful. Don't read this, if, like me, you were looking for a respite from our current political woes. It had me thinking, "When was America ever great?" ( I can think of 3 times... The Marshall Plan, the Moon Landing, the Obama election.) Didion has an acute bullshit detector and has razor sharp focus.
Reading Didionโs essays on the 1988, 1992, and 2000 campaigns really brought to light that some of the issues of the past are still relevant to us today. It sounds like over the past 40 years the game of politics hasnโt changed that much.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
funny
informative
reflective
3.5
Had to pick this one up considering the current political climate/electionโฆ I was inspired to read it after Trump got shot and a lot of my friends were speculating that this event would help his campaign.
Most of this book is definitely not timeless. I liked the first two essays in particular because they touched on important historical moments and trends that are very relevant today (politcal theater and US involvement with Latin America). But much of this book I didnโt find to be particularly interesting or relevant to myself.
Didionโs commentary on the pageantry of conventions and campaigning in her essay โInsider Baseballโ was fascinating. On Dukakis trying to seem more relatable:
โKara Dukakis had tossed the ball to her father. Her father had caught the ball and tossed it back to her.
โOK,โ one of the cameramen had said. โWe got the daughter. Nice. Thatโs enough. Nice.โ
The CNN producer then on the campaign told me, later in the day, that the first recorded ball tossing on the Dukakis campaign had been outside a bowling alley somewhere in Ohio. CNN had shot it. When the campaign realized that only one camera had it, they restaged it.
โWe have a lot of things like the ball tossing,โ the producer said. โWe have the Greek dancing, for example.โโ
In โEyes on the Prize,โ Clinton employing the car salesman skills he learned from his father into politics:
โInstead of talking about Democrats lifting someone out of poverty, describe the partyโs goal as helping average Americans live the good life.
Instead of saying the Democrats want to provide healthcare for the poor, focus on making sure all working Americans have coverageโฆโ
The idea I found most interesting was Didionโs condemnation on the two party system. It prevents dialogue, keeps us focused on โcarefully chosen/symbolic issues, American elections are necessarily debated on โcharacter,โ or โvaluesโฆโโ
Had to pick this one up considering the current political climate/electionโฆ I was inspired to read it after Trump got shot and a lot of my friends were speculating that this event would help his campaign.
Most of this book is definitely not timeless. I liked the first two essays in particular because they touched on important historical moments and trends that are very relevant today (politcal theater and US involvement with Latin America). But much of this book I didnโt find to be particularly interesting or relevant to myself.
Didionโs commentary on the pageantry of conventions and campaigning in her essay โInsider Baseballโ was fascinating. On Dukakis trying to seem more relatable:
โKara Dukakis had tossed the ball to her father. Her father had caught the ball and tossed it back to her.
โOK,โ one of the cameramen had said. โWe got the daughter. Nice. Thatโs enough. Nice.โ
The CNN producer then on the campaign told me, later in the day, that the first recorded ball tossing on the Dukakis campaign had been outside a bowling alley somewhere in Ohio. CNN had shot it. When the campaign realized that only one camera had it, they restaged it.
โWe have a lot of things like the ball tossing,โ the producer said. โWe have the Greek dancing, for example.โโ
In โEyes on the Prize,โ Clinton employing the car salesman skills he learned from his father into politics:
โInstead of talking about Democrats lifting someone out of poverty, describe the partyโs goal as helping average Americans live the good life.
Instead of saying the Democrats want to provide healthcare for the poor, focus on making sure all working Americans have coverageโฆโ
The idea I found most interesting was Didionโs condemnation on the two party system. It prevents dialogue, keeps us focused on โcarefully chosen/symbolic issues, American elections are necessarily debated on โcharacter,โ or โvaluesโฆโโ
Changed the way I saw politics but some of it is so grounded in a time unfamiliar with me and throws around names Iโm not familiar with. The beginning of the book and final essay are the best parts.