Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Picador Modern Classics

De: Joan Didion

Narrado por: Maya Hawke

Long-listed, Los Angeles Times Best Books of the Year, 2017

Long-listed, Slate Best Books of the Year, 2024

This program is read by actor and singer-songwriter Maya Hawke, star of Netflix's Stranger Things.

"Narrating in a voice as clear and sustaining as a cool glass of water, Hawke’s unflashy approach allows the words to reveal their magic."—The Orange County Register

“Maya Hawke performs this classic collection superbly...Hawke gets Didion's measured pace and thoughtful tone just right as she conveys the much admired author's idiosyncratic, elegant language.”—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)

Celebrated, iconic, and indispensable, Joan Didion’s first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, is considered a watershed moment in American writing. First published in 1968, the collection was critically praised as one of the “best prose written in this country.”

More than perhaps any other book, this collection by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era captures the unique time and place of Joan Didion’s focus, exploring subjects such as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up in California and the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture. As Joyce Carol Oates remarked: “[Didion] has been an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time, a memorable voice, partly eulogistic, partly despairing; always in control.”

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2017 Joan Didion (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“In her portraits of people, Didion is not out to expose but to understand, and she shows us actors and millionaires, doomed brides and naive acid-trippers, left wing ideologues and snobs of the Hawaiian aristocracy in a way that makes them neither villainous nor glamorous, but alive and botched and often mournfully beautiful.... A rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country.” —Dan Wakefield, The New York Times Book Review

Dideon Prose read by Maya Hawke

Dideon Prose read by Maya Hawke is as beautiful as any music I have ever heard! I could listen to this the rest of my life forever in awe! Senior Citizen 2025

Didion & Babitz

So I purchased the Didion and Babitz book that came out recently and figured I should probably start by reading some work by Joan Didion. This was the one I chose to read. I enjoyed the short stories, and being a California native felt like the content was very relatable with her descriptions. Narrator was great and overall was a good listen. Moving on to Eve Babitz work next.

Great voice for Joan Dideon. Just the right tone and cadence.

Liked all of it. Reminded me of my 40 years in California. The enigma of California. The taming of our last American wilderness.

Joan Didion is a must read for any American.

Joan Didion is the preeminent writer of her generation. The authority and command in which she writes is truly remarkable and her stories about the 60s provide a window into just how strange it was to be alive & young at that time.

The narrator does an amazing job conveying Didion’s diction throughout.

The vivid imagery.

I wasn’t sure what to expect exactly but was happily surprised. The California memories were relatable for me but the trip to the 60’s made it much more exciting.

listen to it.

read it for the beautiful writing. listen to it for the rhythms of its poetry.

Great writing, beautifully read

I've been familiar with Didion's work since my teens, and I found this an especially beautiful reading of these enduring essays. Maya Hawke's intelligent and sensitive narrative, never overdramatized, let Didion speak through her. Just wonderful.

Mesmerizing

Narration by Maya Hawke excellent and soothing. Hope hear more from her. Non fiction snapshot of the 60s with a literary delivery.

No, Maya, No

Poor kid mispronounced way too many words to have this gig. Garden of Ahh-la?

Takes you to a different time

I’ve heard from many in the literary community that Joan Didion is one of the very best to ever do it and was excited to see Slouching Towards Bethlehem done as an audiobook.

I thought everything was good - but not great. The narration was fine, aside from a few mispronunciations (Chapultepec and others), the writing intriguing but not spectacular. I am glad that I sampled Didion’s work, especially resonant were the chapters toward the beginning and end - the woman accused of killing her husband and her recollections of Hawaii and New York.