The Year of Magical Thinking

By: Joan Didion

Narrated by: Barbara Caruso

Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

National Book Award, Nonfiction, 2005

"Life changes fast....You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." These were among the first words Joan Didion wrote in January 2004. Her daughter was lying unconscious in an intensive care unit, a victim of pneumonia and septic shock. Her husband, John Gregory Dunne, was dead. The night before New Year's Eve, while they were sitting down to dinner, he suffered a massive and fatal coronary. The two had lived and worked side by side for nearly 40 years.

The weeks and months that followed "cut loose any fixed idea I had about death, about illness, about probability and luck...about marriage and children and memory...about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself."

In The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion explores with electric honesty and passion a private yet universal experience. Her portrait of a marriage, and a life, in good times and bad, will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, a wife, or a child.

Listen to Joan Didion's full-hour interview with Charlie Rose.

©2005 Joan Didion (P)2005 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Biography/Memoir
• National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee, Autobiography, 2005

"Many will greet this taut, clear-eyed memoir of grief as a long-awaited return to the terrain of Didion's venerated, increasingly rare personal essays....This is an indispensable addition to Didion's body of work and a lyrical, disciplined entry in the annals of mourning literature." (Publishers Weekly)
"The Year of Magical Thinking is not a downer. On the contrary. Though the material is literally terrible, the writing is exhilarating and what unfolds resembles an adventure narrative." (The New York Times)

Beautiful

Wonderful narration. An impactful exploration of grief and loss. Helpful to me in understanding my own life following the loss of a loved one

Exquisitely expressed emotions

Emotions such has grief, self-pity, and the non-linear way they are felt was captured in this book. I have tremendous grief from the loss of a son, and she was able to capture the feelings. Some say the writer lacked emotions, I feel that was perfect because when you are in the depths of grief, you’re numb… flat.

Great writing

Great writing, emotional, moving and real. Great performance. Reconcile for those that’s going through grief and loss.

Touching

A touching story of grief and survival. Bravely and honestly written.

Important book for insight into complicated grief

I struggled to want to finish it and only when it WAS finished, realized the reason: 8 years later, I'm still grieving. Thank you, Joan, for such and exquisite look at this process. No telling how many you have helped with your story.

well, in hindsight

I'm honestly torn between if I liked the book or not. I loved the concept and content of what she writes, however, there's a lot of unnecessary filler in the book. When she is on topic, like chapter 18, she is great, but when she isn't, she is all over the place. Talking about random anecdotes of the past and regurgitating the same sentiments. The melancholy feels incessant to the point of just wanting the book to end sooner than what it did.

Well written and well read

I picked this novel because I had read a book by this author in college about El Salvador. I knew that she was a great writer and could effectively describe events in a way that would make the emotions of the situation clear. I found this to be true is this book as well. Also, once I listened to the short demo. offered at audbile.com I wanted to listen to more. I found it very intriguing how Didion felt and dealt with all of the tragedy that went on around her. I was comforted too by the strength that she felt in spite of all that tragedy. I recommend this book as an interesting look into the human psyche.

I love this book but not narrator choice.

I love this book and have read it and will likely read it again. I feel though that someone with an American or Californian accent would be better to read Didion aloud. The proper British accent takes away from the true dry tone that I love of Didion and plays into this notion that Didion is very elite. The narrator affects some emotion at times that I don't believe is in Didion's unsentimental style.

Classic Memoir

I wish I had read this years ago. A painful yet still uplifting life lesson.

Heart rending

This book defines heart rending. Sad but very powerful. Anyone who has suffered a loss will be able to relate.