Blue Nights

Didion makes you live in her skin

Joan Didion is the dominant character in the book. It is through her eyes that you see her daughter, her husband, parents and others of her circle. You feel as much as if you are in her skin as if it was a fictional tale with her being the fictional narrator.

Didion is a great writer. I am sure the book would be excellent in print form. Farr is a very good narrator. I was so sorry that the book was over.

I think it was the repetition, including the repitition of Quintana's remembered questions of her adoptive mother,

I was so moved by this very beautiful memoir. The author tells the story of the loss of her beloved daughter with great intensity and lyrical beauty without an ounce of pity or sentimentality. It has music, rhythm and beautiful images to connect thoughts and emotions directly to the reader and to her experience of loss. This is a profound story of loss and of aging that memorializes the beloved child while connecting to the fading of her own life. I can only say that this book reached directly into my heart and soul and hit me in all of my senses. The author expresses thoughts and feelings with so much power and grace. The reader is excellent and reads with a speed and pace that matches the text and understands its rhythms. Highly recommended.

Joan Didion ~ again!

Joan Didion represented to me ~ in only ways that she can articulate ~ what it means to be a mother and what it means to be in the 'third chapter' of life. Her insights about the incidents and passages in life that we think are important as they are happening, in contrast to what, upon reflection and after the fact, are actually important, are exquisite.

I thought it was outstanding. At times I forgot that I was not listening to Joan Didion's voice.

The entire story is moving, but the ending touched me to the bone.

I recommend this book whether on audio or in print.

I loved the writing and the tale.

I believed it.

The mother.

The relationship between the mother and her daughter was painful and powerful all at the same time.

If you like Joan Didian, you'll like this book.

Yes. I will listen to it again.

Pauses. Time to let thoughts sink in.

No more emotional than Didion's thoughts themselves, which, by their starkness, are moving. Often through their repetition.

Waiting for the next writings by Joan Didion.

having lost an only child I identified with Joan looking back over the memories - looking for a clue or sign to help understand the lost of a child along with some regrets & things you might have done differently. The book is a tribute to a mother's love for her child.

I read this just after finishing The Year of Magical Thinking and enjoyed both very much. The author reveals depths of parental doubt rarely acknowledged by modern parents.

The book contains reminiscences and reflections about the life and death of the author's adopted daughter who died after a prolonged illness in her mid-thirties. They are roughly chronologic, but there does not seem to be a particular meaning to the order of presentation. It feels more like someone pawing through a box of photographs. She paints a vivid picture of her daughter and her loss without being melodramatic or morose. A parent who loses a child is entitled to self-pity, but these moments are brief and poignant.

She discusses both her own difficulties about becoming a parent and her daughter's problems with bipolar disorder and the inevitable baggage of adoption. It is charming to hear how naive and vulnerable Mrs. Didion was about parenting and the passages detailing her daughter's bipolar episodes are heart-wrenching.

The book was very emotionally touching because she includes so many personal details and everyday events that you really feel like a family friend. Somehow, acknowledging so many doubts and flaws makes her not only sympathetic, but also capable--because she is engaging her problems.

The performance is very good. Clear and sincere without being too dramatic.

I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the grieving process or the difficulty of parenting.

Yes, because it is poetic and well read.

The Year of Magical Thinking. Both are beautifully written and convey a sense of honesty and bravery.

No

A book about grief, love, adoption and getting older.

Didion's memories of her daughter through the years-- different, specific moments-- and the way she linked them together, really made this a heartbreaking read. I love Didion anyway; having been introduced to her in grad school, I have greedily sucked in just about everything she's written, I put this on my Wish List as soon as I saw that it was due to be published. There isn't a single moment that sticks out to me. This is just a beautiful memorial to Quintana Roo.

The memory of what Quintana wore for her wedding was a great one. I like how she returned to it several times.

I had to keep myself from crying, mostly. I knew how it was going to end. . . I wonder how long it took Didion to write this.

If you haven't read The Year of Magical Thinking yet, I recommend that one before this. And if you've never read anything else by Didion, do that, too. You won't be sorry. Her way with words will leave you breathless.

The extreme emphasis on celebrity name-dropping, place name-dropping, and privilege. It seems the real story is short and sad, and that the stage-setting and background was about the wealthy environment Quintana had grown up in. It felt shallow.

I will review my choices more carefully.

NA

Disappointment.

I came to this book with high expectations because I enjoyed A Year of Magical Thinking. I have read and enjoyed almost everything else that Joan Didion has written, and will try to not let this experience influence future choices.