Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Joan Didion's writing is fabulous, insightful, spare. She deserves much better treatment than she gets from Diane Keaton, whom I love as an actress, but who is NOT a good reader. Her mispronunciations are legion, and it is painfully obvious that she is doing this reading cold. But frankly, I blame Audible's obvious desire to whip through these recordings rather than taking the time to produce something flawless--which both the author and the reader deserve. Would it kill them to go back and dub a few mistakes? Didion deserves better.

Still worth a listen, though, because even though Keaton's not so hot, Didion is that good.

Book: absolutely. Audiobook: not at ALL.

Didion's amazing ability to describe time, place, characters.

Let me count the ways! San Bernardino (first story's setting, mentioned in the second sentence and about a dozen times after that) has never been called "San Bern-dino." Merced is not "MURSE-ed." Sausalito is not "Souse-alito." These are real towns, important to the script (if you will). Correct pronunciation should not be optional!

Diane Keaton isn't the first I've heard pronounce Washington "Warshington," but ... really? In a professional production? Was no one directing? Editing? Audible should be embarrassed.

This recording needs to be corrected if Audible continues to sell it. I have bought and listened to dozens of audiobooks; none has been this bad. As another reviewer noted, Didion deserved better. So do Audible's customers. I had to stop listening and go buy the paperback book before Diane Keaton completely ruined it for me.

Having grown up in California in the 50's and 60's this was a wonderful walk down memory lane. Joan style and content was totally engaging and true to the time. Highly recommend!

I haven't heard any other audio books narrated by Diane Keaton, but I must say, I would listen again and again, just because she did a wonderful job. Her speach was clear and, unlike some narrators, she wasn't overly dramatic. Her tone is clear and easy to listen to.

Wonderfully wrought essays took me back to the 60's, thanks to Didion's sharp eyed portraits and ear for dialogue. However, what is Diane Keaton's excuse?? She mispronounces so many words so consistently it's as if she has a speech impediment (maybe she does). She omits any interior syllable with an "er" sound: "San Berdino;" "vetinarian." This happened so often it was distracting. I actually had to check to see if all these years I had misread San Bernardino CA and it really didn't have that interior "nar" syllable. I have recently read Didion's essays about the deaths of her husband and daughter, and reading her first collection after her latest was an interesting juxtaposition. For all the dystopia she noticed and chronicled in the 60's, she has nevertheless been able to live a good, productive and creative life. She is a treasure.

This new production brings the book to life in a fresh and relate-able way. Diane Keaton's performance is dead on (although she does get some place names wrong, which is odd for someone who has spent so much time in California.)

A collection of published and personal pieces about life in America during the 60's (it has nothing to do with the Middle East) the book still offers valid insights for a modern reader. She simultaneously provides a time capsule view into the past while reminding us that certain complaints are perennial as the seasons. I found the piece responding to complaints about how Hollywood doesn't make movies like they used to particularly funny.

Diane Keaton's reading captures the thoughtful prose and inflects a very slight condescension which I think represents the material very accurately.

Yes. Didion's writing is unmatched in its clarity, detail and wittiness. The subject matter is sometimes mundane and dated (Joan Baez, Las Vegas weddings, etc). However, the text is still engaging due to the excellence of Didion's prose. This is an especially good read for a writer who wants to see what can be done with everyday life using exceptional prose.

Any collection of essays by E.B. White, including classics such as "Once More to the Lake." Both writers are exceptional in capturing the details of everyday life and relating them to important ideas about human nature and our culture.

I love Diane's voice and reading style. She's great on screen or via audio.

Flashback to the 60s--Real Life Is Crazier Than Fiction

i've always found 'personal journalism' something of a contradiction...hunter thompson, joan didion, tom wolfe, etc., and often can't find the bright line between it and fiction... that being said, a few of the 'stories' in this collection are golden reflections of our time, but most are simply the personal insights into how this writer receives the world...ms keaton's reading is entirely sympathetic and a pleasure to listen to...what puzzles me is whether she's ever met a foreign word (non-English) that has been adopted by our vernacular that she can pronounce with something that resembles its source language.

I love Joan Didion and I loved this collection of essays when I first read it many years ago but Diane Keaton's reading of it just seemed a little flat. I wish Ms. Didion had read it aloud herself.

Hearing Diane Keaton pronounce tule fog as "tool" fog and Merced as "mers-ed" (emphasis on the first syllable rather than on the last) was a little jarring. Aren't there editors involved to help the readers pronounce the words correctly? Keaton is a good reader for Didion's slightly smug tone here, but those errors were disappointing.

Absolutely. This is requisite reading for Americans, especially those of us who weren't alive at the time Didion wrote Slouching. It captures a cultural movement.

Keaton has a recognizable voice and it flowed very naturally. She captured Didion's tone perfectly.

A film would never be able to do this book justice.