The Year of Magical Thinking (a book review)

Life changes fast.
Life changes in the instant.
You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
The question of self-pity.

I had never heard of Joan Didion until I read an interview with her from the New York Times, concerning her new book, The Year of Magical Thinking. It's a book she wrote about the first year after her husband died.

Didion and John Gregory Dunne were married for 39 years, and during that time were basically inseperable. The were both writers who worked from home, each always available to the other for editing and feedback of their current work.

One evening at the end of 2003 Didion and her husband were chatting as she prepared dinner. One minute he was talking, the next minute he was gone.

Her style here is a raw method of sharing her grief, her confusion, her ways of thinking about this sudden, extreme void in her life, and it is very powerful.

She recalls their life and their love with fondness and simplicity, while still bringing across how BIG it all was. Her loss made me ache.

I know I can't top the other reviews I've read, so I'll direct you to those. The Year of Magical Thinking is worth a read, even if, like me, you have yet to face a huge loss in your own life. This book is one that made me think I was glad I have read it and know about it, because I have a feeling that someday I'll need it again.

Here is an essay taken from the book.
Here is an excellent review.
And here is a brand new article about the broadway version of the book, expected in 2007.