It's funny how you come across a book that you think means something, but turns out to be entirely different. I wanted the Year of Magical Thinking because I honestly thought it reveals through the heartrending nature of grief, the miraculous power of thought. And despite a fair number of dissatisfied readers on Shelfari, I was surprised to find nary a review that criticized the book.
Joan Didion wrote this memoir after the death of her husband, fellow writer, John Dunne. His death at the dinner table marked the beginning of what was to be a stressful year for Joan. At the same time her husband slumped over the dinner table, dying as a result of a massive cardiac arrest, her daughter lay in a hospital bed, in a medically induced coma after suffering a septic shock. Joan chronicles her thoughts as they grapple to cope with the way life can just be turned upside down and inside down in an instant. An instant, an instant is all it takes to change life as we know it, Joan keeps reminding.
Now, death is not a easy subject to write on. And certainly not the death of a loved one. Joan deserves credit for eloquently expressing in candid terms, her despair, shock and helplessness at the death of her husband. But for me, I found the book un-elevating. True, death is not meant to elevate but I found myself struggling with Joan's stream of consciousness technique, and her frequent trips to the past. There were too many dates, and too many characters who were just names, and nothing more. You were dragged back, there, and here all in one sentence, and it left me just disoriented. I was, simply, not interested. The book could have done less with memories about trips to Honolulu and more with the 'magical thinking' that we were promised. But alas! I could not find the magic. If thinking about the past is magical, then we are all leading very magical lives. Of course, I understand that losing a loved one usually throws you into memories you shared with that person - my grouse here has nothing to do with Didion's way of dealing with her grief - my grouse is only to do with the way such grief was expressed in this book. Perhaps it is the written matter but it left me cold.
Ultimately, I believe that because Joan Didion is such an acclaimed writer, and the topic she has chosen is so obviously sensitive, the Year of Magical Thinking escaped with far less criticism than it deserved.
Verdict : Fails to move me despite the heaviness of the topic.
Rating : 2/5
:(
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