The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Ok Guys, This is not something that I would seek out....but its more like it called out to me. I first read about it in the New York times, many months ago. I was interested in it, and made a mental note to read it if I crossed its path in a book store or the library. Then a few weeks ago...I saw another article int he paper. When it pointed out that Ms. Didion lost her daughter months after the book was published...I knew I had to read it. It's a fast read...heartbreaking...but quick. It just reminds you how fast things can change, how greif strikes us all in different ways, how memories flood to us and how we avoid the things that trigger those floods. Just read it."Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." ~ Joan Didion
Editorial: Book Description
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.”
posted by Netter @ 5:34 PM
3 Comments:
I think we were separated at birth or something because the two books that I am reading right now are this one and listening to The Mermaid Chair! I agree with your thoughts on both though! I'm dragging myself through Kidd's book! It will be interesting to see what you read next!
How funny! I am reading a book right now but it is a quicky....I'm not sure what I am picking out for the weekend.
If you found Joan Didion's book of interest, you might want to take a look at a book about another Joan -- -- "Lessons from Joan, Living and Loving with Cancer, A Husband's Story" by Eric Kingson, Syracuse University Press, September 2005
The following comments on this book are taken from the Barmes and Nobles website:
FROM THE PUBLISHER
In the thirty-two months following Joan's cancer diagnosis she and her family experienced a journey that changed their lives immeasurably. With unflinching honesty, Eric R. Kingson recounts the ensuing medical treatments, their hopes and fears, their advocacy, and everyday struggles. But at the heart of the book is Joan's warmth and courage. Her observations on life and death, more philosophical than clinical, are honest and abundant. Drawing on her wisdom, Kingson has written a powerful and enriching book. Unexpectedly, it proves to be not so much a memoir as a love story. Lessons from Joan is not intended as a "how-to" book, but within its pages readers will find lessons about how to deal with unexpected life-threatening illnesses, how to identify and assess treatment options, and how to communicate with health care providers and deal with managed care.
FROM THE CRITICS
MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
"[O]ffers far more than the usual memoir, however: its most valuable contribution lies in its lessons on how to navigate the medical system, how to obtain results in the face of obstacles, and how families can endure both diagnosis and treatment. This powerful story holds many lessons and much advice for any facing similar struggles, and is a high recommended pick."
SUZANNE LINDLEY - for the the COLON CANCER ALLIANCE
"For those living with or touched by a diagnosis of cancer, "Lessons from Joan" will be a comfort and a help. For anyone seeking understanding in the presence of the mystery of disease, this book will be a flowing river of perception. It will provide laughter, thought, tears, and above all hope. I recommend it wholeheartedly."
DALE JOHNSON - CEO, Hospice & Palliative Care Associates of Central New York
This "book is, by turns, a valentine to Joan, a thank-you note to friends and family, and a how-to manual for families encountering a bewildering health care system in the face of terminal disease. Kingson manages a deft balancing act, crafting a work that is philosophical at times but never dense, inspirational without being overly sentimental, and instructive while much more than merely technical. Lessons from Joan presents a set of thoughtful reflections about struggle, loss and grief in a family turned upside down by the unanticipated illness of a youthful and vibrant wife and mother."
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Newsletter Of The Rosalynn Carter Institute Caregiver Program
"This courageous look into the day to day triumphs and tragedies of dealing with a life-threatening illness is a thought-provoking, helpful and hopeful book for caregivers, family members, professional caregivers, and students."
— RECOMENDED BOOK IN CARGIVING TIMES (January 2006)
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