The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)

I expected to love The Year of Magical Thinking, because I'd read so many glowing reports of it. I had never heard of Joan Didion prior to reading about this book, but she's obviously a very well known author - perhaps if I'd known more about her style, I would have had a better idea of how much I would have enjoyed Magical Thinking.

Magical Thinking is a memoir of a year after Didion's husband dies of a heart attack while they are sitting down to dinner together, after having visited their gravely ill daughter in hospital. It is an account of grief. Magical Thinking is quite spare, in both its style and length. We are drawn deeply into Didion's emotions during this time, and while this is certainly affecting, it is hard to relate to them. We don't get to know her husband, and I certainly found it hard to grieve for him.

I suppose that wasn't the point of the book - it is a very personal study of grief, rather than an effort to have us grieve along with the author. But the affect of this left me rather cold - despite Didion's skill as a writer, I didn't become involved in Magical Thinking, and don't think I'll be seeking out any more of her work. Her style isn't for me.