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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
“I am easy here.” Me too.
Such a fascinating confrontation of the past, geography, nature, and connection.
Such a fascinating confrontation of the past, geography, nature, and connection.
Ahhhh Joan Didion. I feel as if people shouldn't be allowed to write reviews of books by writers like her anymore because she is so iconic and classic. Many of her collections of essays dot my library and feel like old friends from college that I sometimes revisit. This brief collection was recommended to me by @sarahpaolan who said "I kept thinking about you the whole time I read it" because so much of it chronicles her notes as she journeyed through the South in June of 1970 for essays she never completed. What follows is an accidental memoir of Didion's reflections on her relation to the South, my favorites were on a previous lover who taught her to cook, and her home in California. My fascination with The Southern Gothic is no secret to most, and Didion tried in earnest to discover what that means. My other favorite exploration of this was her meeting with one of my favorites, Walker Percy. You know Didion is brilliant when her notes are better than most people's finished pieces. It's very brief, it could easily be done in one sitting, but it's a fascinating glimpse into the process of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. If you're a fan of hers, I highly recommend this book. If you've never read any Didion, start with SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM or THE WHITE ALBUM first.
-South and West is something of a revised travel journal that contains her observations and experiences as well as transcribed notes that she took while doing research for her writing
-Her observations can be piercingly sharp when she is faced with prejudice (which she responds to with wit and cynicism), but her clear love and facination with the south is evident in her writing.
-provides incite into her methodology as a literary journalist.
-Didion's has a talent for painting a word picture and her descriptions are emmersive and captivating.
-Her observations can be piercingly sharp when she is faced with prejudice (which she responds to with wit and cynicism), but her clear love and facination with the south is evident in her writing.
-provides incite into her methodology as a literary journalist.
-Didion's has a talent for painting a word picture and her descriptions are emmersive and captivating.
I didn't really enjoy this book, although it was interesting to glimpse the mechanics of a writer's brain - observations, details, dialogue. The book is mainly Didion's notes from a month-long road trip through the South. Many of her observations made me chuckle or shake my head in recognition.
"... the Demopolis police force (nine of them) pouring out 214 gallons of confiscated moonshine."
"The legality or illegality of liquor in the South seems a complication to outsiders, and is scarcely considered by the residents."
"About the cathouse: the notion that an accepted element in the social order is a whorehouse goes hand in hand with the woman on the pedestal."
"... the Demopolis police force (nine of them) pouring out 214 gallons of confiscated moonshine."
"The legality or illegality of liquor in the South seems a complication to outsiders, and is scarcely considered by the residents."
"About the cathouse: the notion that an accepted element in the social order is a whorehouse goes hand in hand with the woman on the pedestal."
Reading about my grandmother's South, my mother's South, and partially my South written by an outsider has been a deeply moving and saddening experience. Lovely read.
Joan Didion, I was put on this Earth to love you
This book is comprised of two essays from Joan Didion's notebooks she kept in the '70s. Many of her observations, especially on the South, sadly ring true today. As many reviews and synopses have already stated, reading these essays was a wonderful glimpse into Didion's craft.
Realizing that not much has changed in 50 years in the South...
This one's for the Babitz Girls.
I can't pinpoint why, but it is much more compelling than Didion usually is to me. She's always raw, but this one just felt different. Maybe because she was out of her California Comfort Zone. Maybe it was the subject matter and the people she spoke to. Either way, this is the Didion I will be most likely to recommend moving forward.
I can't pinpoint why, but it is much more compelling than Didion usually is to me. She's always raw, but this one just felt different. Maybe because she was out of her California Comfort Zone. Maybe it was the subject matter and the people she spoke to. Either way, this is the Didion I will be most likely to recommend moving forward.
I love Joan Didion as much as the next person, but this one was not her best. Quite dull, uninteresting.