Books 30 - 32 / 100

[slickmc]

30. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
          A book about the year after Didion's husband's death, where the 'magical thinking' she engages in are all the little grief games she plays with herself, such as acting as though her husband was going to come back some day.  Besides being a memoir, also somewhat of an examination of grief, as

Comments

[krysalid]

I have a friend who lost her husband a few weeks ago quite suddenly, leaving her with 3 kids at the age of 34...Do you think this one (no. 30) would be a good gift to help her, or would it be too much this soon after her loss?

[slickmc]

I would think it would be too soon. But who knows, perhaps it would help her to read about something that reflects the way she feels. Didion was writing from the perspective of having spent nearly every day of 40 years with her husband, and then suddenly he died. While outwardly holding it together and functioning, she was really lost in her own head, unable to throw away his clothes because he would need them when he came home, or unable to travel down certain streets because they would remind her of her husband.

Interestingly, although Didion wrote the book very soon after her husband's death, she's also very cerebral about it. She's really a writer, watching herself grieving. I don't know whether or not that approach would appeal to your friend.

[krysalid]

Thank you. Perhaps I will read it first and see. She has been exceptionally controlled and strong about it all so far, but it is so hard to actually imagine being in that situation if you are not.

[karmanotdharma]

I suggested it to a woman who had lost her husband a few years ago, and while she knew of the book and what it was about she said she just really wasn't ready for it. I would say suggest it maybe, but getting it for her might not really be helpful if she's not in the right place to read it.

[fegs]

I saw the stage version of The Year of Magical Thingking a couple of years ago. It had Vanessa Redgrave doing the monologue and I was totally blown away.