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flickerofinsanity's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
davenash's review against another edition
5.0
Reading these essays written between 1988 and 2000 through the lens of 2008 and 2016 is like reading the Old Testament through the lens of the New.
Didion identifies the problem with our politics in the fist paragraph of the first essay, the people she hung out with in high school - average Janes and Joe's - don't vote and are not involved in the "process". Didion's coverage of the 88 Democratic Primary in California predicts both Obama's and Trump's rise.
Jesse Jackson was dangerous for three reasons - First, white people started to vote for him. Obama won Iowa and that's how he won the nomination. Second, Jackson was financed outside the political process. That's Trump. Third he had no political experience - that's basically both of them. "I heard him [Jackson] he didn't sound like a politician."
But the her piece "Clinton Agonistes" just nails Clinton while circling back to the main theme. From the first paragraph (Didion's opening's are her best parts, that goes for Democracy and The Last Thing He Wanted except when when she ends with a killer quote)
"No one who ever passed through an American public high school could have watched William Jefferson Clinton running for office in 1992 and failed to recognize the familiar predatory sexuality of a the provincial adolescent."
"No one could have missed the reservoir of self-pity, the quickness to blame, the narrowing of the eyes, as if in wildlife documentary, when things did not go his way. That famous tendency of the candidate to take a less than forthcoming approach to embarrassing questions that had already been well documented."
"Nothing that is now known about the 42nd President was not known before the New Hampshire primary in 1992."
And then the killer close:
"Who cares about what every adult thinks", said one staffer, "It's totally not germane to the point".
Didion identifies the problem with our politics in the fist paragraph of the first essay, the people she hung out with in high school - average Janes and Joe's - don't vote and are not involved in the "process". Didion's coverage of the 88 Democratic Primary in California predicts both Obama's and Trump's rise.
Jesse Jackson was dangerous for three reasons - First, white people started to vote for him. Obama won Iowa and that's how he won the nomination. Second, Jackson was financed outside the political process. That's Trump. Third he had no political experience - that's basically both of them. "I heard him [Jackson] he didn't sound like a politician."
But the her piece "Clinton Agonistes" just nails Clinton while circling back to the main theme. From the first paragraph (Didion's opening's are her best parts, that goes for Democracy and The Last Thing He Wanted except when when she ends with a killer quote)
"No one who ever passed through an American public high school could have watched William Jefferson Clinton running for office in 1992 and failed to recognize the familiar predatory sexuality of a the provincial adolescent."
"No one could have missed the reservoir of self-pity, the quickness to blame, the narrowing of the eyes, as if in wildlife documentary, when things did not go his way. That famous tendency of the candidate to take a less than forthcoming approach to embarrassing questions that had already been well documented."
"Nothing that is now known about the 42nd President was not known before the New Hampshire primary in 1992."
And then the killer close:
"Who cares about what every adult thinks", said one staffer, "It's totally not germane to the point".
steve_brinson's review against another edition
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.75
amyponds's review against another edition
3.0
Joan Didion is a talented author and I have enjoyed the other two books of hers that I read, but I found I couldn't get into a lot of the essays in this book. While they are comprehensive and often shed light on events that I hadn't learned of previously, I found that many dragged on beyond necessity. Summarize, summarize, summarize: the key to effective essay writing. My favourite of these might be 'Political Pornography,' and it is incidentally also the shortest. I would recommend just reading that instead of working through the whole collection, although there are definitely a few other gems here. On average, it earns my 3 star rating (perhaps 3.2 stars, but that's just pedantic).
chiariviera's review against another edition
4.0
Non è decisamente un saggio che si limita a commentare l'andamento della campagna elettorale e delle elezioni del 1992, ma del resto da Joan Didion non mi aspettavo altro.
A partire da spunti politici, l'autrice fa una riflessione che tocca diversi temi, che vanno da una riflessione sulla moralità dei politici alle modalità e finalità del giornalismo che si occupa di politica.
Sebbene l'ambientazione sia negli anni '90, alcune tematiche sono attuali ancora oggi, con le dovute constestualizzazioni.
Nel complesso sono molto soddisfatta della lettura!
A partire da spunti politici, l'autrice fa una riflessione che tocca diversi temi, che vanno da una riflessione sulla moralità dei politici alle modalità e finalità del giornalismo che si occupa di politica.
Sebbene l'ambientazione sia negli anni '90, alcune tematiche sono attuali ancora oggi, con le dovute constestualizzazioni.
Nel complesso sono molto soddisfatta della lettura!
mattsitstill's review against another edition
4.0
Probably the angriest book I’ve read from Didion. Pertinent and relevant, filled with long sentences that entrap and intoxicate. It’s not my favorite of hers, and can only be rightfully compared to other Didion works, but it’s still good and still impactful.