I've been trying to write this review for over a week now.

I didn't think I liked Blue Nights as much as I have been drawn into Didion's previous works. I was captivated by Year of Magical Thinking, and in college I read Play It As It Lays and was beyond depressed from it. I read a lot of depressing books, but this one took the cake, and for that I had an immense amount of respect for Joan Didion. I cried and cried when I read the play Year of Magical Thinking. But Blue Nights did not have the same affect on me. It's not because it is not as good, the writing is still amazing. I think it is more personal than Magical Thinking. I think it is heartbreaking how devastated she was after the losses she suffered. But listening to this book at work, while training for a new position, I do not feel like I gave it the right amount of time. I might start it over or download the kindle edition to give it more time.


This is one of those books, for me, which soaks in after I finished it. The more I think about it, the more I talk about it, the more I realize that indeed I liked it very much and that it is powerful and quiet at the same time.


The language is unbelievable. Didion writes in the rhythmic cadence I became familiar with in her previous works. Her ability to write personally without sounding self obsessed is natural and beautiful. If Magically Thinking was about processing the loss of her husband it makes sense that there would be a second book where she could fully discuss the loss of her daughter. Ms Didion also speaks at length about aging in a way that confronts the fear we all may have about what the end of life may bring.

So I liked it immensely, I just didn't emotionally respond to it the way I have done with the previous works I've read. Which is good for me emotionally.