The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

5 (1)
$17.00

Product Details

Web ID: 15415560

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER. From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of electric honesty and passion that 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 Evethe 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.

  • Product Features

    • Suggested age range- Adult
    • Format- Paperback
    • Product dimensions- 5.1" W x 7.9" H x 0.6" D
    • Genre- Biography
    • Publisher- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Publication date- 02-13-2007
    • Page count- 240
    • ISBN- 9781400078431
  • Materials & Care

    • Product labels for all quilted items (filled apparel, home textiles, and accessories) are available online.
  • Shipping & Returns

    • California and Minnesota customers call 1-800-289-6229 for Free Shipping information.
    • For complete details, see our Shipping and Returns policies.

Ratings & Reviews

5/5

1 star ratings & reviews

Write a Review
1
0
0
0
0
3 years ago
from Oshkosh, WI

I've probably bought a dozen copies of this book

I read this book about 15 years ago. I was so impressed by the way she took the reader through the emotional journey she made following the death of her husband. I began giving copies to widows with the admonition: "Read it if it helps. Keep the book. Pass it along to another widow. Return it to me. Your book. Your choice." Most have told me it helped. Some told me they passed it along to a grieving friend. A few have been returned to me. Only one friend thanked me but said it wasn't for her. I'm a Christian and most of my friends are, too. People receive a lot of "spiritual reads" following a death, but this is mostly secular in nature. Not all spiritual books speak the same "God language" as the reader, nor is there anyway they could. Those books won't speak to everyone, even if written by a fellow Christian. This is an honest look at moving through grief.

Recommends this product

Customer review from barnesandnoble.com