{"id":105,"date":"2018-07-08T10:50:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-08T10:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/?p=105"},"modified":"2018-07-08T11:12:37","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T11:12:37","slug":"the-year-of-magical-thinking-and-blue-nights-both-by-joan-didion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"The year of magical thinking and Blue nights – both by Joan Didion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago – for whatever reason – I bought\u00a0The year of magical thinking <\/em>by Joan Didion. I have never read any of her novels or essays before, maybe it was the picture on the cover, maybe it was the cover text on the book, maybe it was the fact that the cover text was so personal. Offering to show you the true feelings and thoughts of someone who has lost their lifelong partner, the one that understood them, the one that had integrated into their soul. How does one cope with the death of their husband for forty years at the same time their daughter is in a coma.<\/p>\n

Joan Didion writes in a way I have never read before – at least in these two very personal and private books. Some times she is distant to the things that had happened like she had been on autopilot the moment they occurred and then the next moment her sentences can become short as if her thoughts are too fast to hold. A flashback to a distant memory that for some reason just comes back to her. Memories that seems important or unknowing why the memories show up at that time.<\/p>\n

The year of magical<\/em> thinking<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>is primarily about the loss of her husband John Gregory Dunne, who dies of a heart attack. How she handles or tries to handle the fact the her lifelong partner is gone, how the days go by without he is there anymore. What do you do when when the person you have always been used to talk to and ask for advice is gone, the person you work with, the father of your child, the man you shared your bed with, the one you had breakfast with, dinner with, the one you traveled with is not here anymore.<\/p>\n

Blue nights<\/em> is about the loss of her only daughter Quintana Roo. Only a year and a half after the loss of her husband she looses her daughter. Two years of going to hospitals to visit her daughter, hopes that her daughter might make it, believing that she will, learning medical terms and researching what can be done, burying her husband, reading and remembering literature describing death, literature describing or trying to describe what it fells like for the ones who is left behind. Left behind for what? Left behind to do what? Memory loss, fear of what could happen, fear of what might happen, autopilot, other peoples reaction, your body’s reaction, self pity. Scientific articles, great writers, all trying to put words on what it is like to loose.<\/p>\n

I am deeply impressed by both books, I can’t even imagine what those two years have been for her, and I will not try to. Those feelings are not imaginable, only people who have been there knows. Joan Didion tells us her story, how she felt. She never ones writes that writing is a help for her, a way to get a hold of her thoughts. Maybe it is a help for her, maybe she wants to help others who has nowhere to turn when they have lost, maybe she is writing the book that she could have used. Whatever the reason they are beautiful books about loss. Beautiful written about the tragic moments of life. Beautiful books about life.<\/p>\n

I would in an instant read them both again, don’t get me wrong I don’t thrive on other people tragic moments in life, but Joan Didion’s writing in those books tell us how it is to be human.<\/p>\n

I wish I could read them again for the first time…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago – for whatever reason – I bought\u00a0The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion. I have never read any of her novels or essays before, maybe it was the picture on the cover, maybe it was the cover text on the book, maybe it was the fact that the cover text was so … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The year of magical thinking and Blue nights – both by Joan Didion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[91,90,92,94,95,96,93],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-bla-timer","tag-blue-nights","tag-et-ar-med-magisk-taenkning","tag-joan-didion","tag-john-gregory-dunne","tag-quintana-roo","tag-the-year-of-magical-thinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions\/109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/paperandthesilverscreen.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}