YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING THE PB

I once read a review that said Joan Didion was a narc just talking about herself, nothing could be further away from the truth, this is an amazing book of grief and so simply written, if you have experienced grief aka loos of someone, all these thoughts and more have already raced through your mind but reading this feels like comfort, to know you are not alone .

The Year of Magical Thinking is not a book you rush through; it sits with you, heavy and tender at the same time. Joan Didion writes about grief after the sudden loss of her husband, but she does so without melodrama—only with sharp clarity and aching restraint. Her “magical thinking” is not fantasy; it’s the mind’s fragile attempt to survive shock, to believe that love can undo death if we think hard enough. What moved me most is how precisely Didion captures the disorientation of grief—the looping thoughts, the refusal to accept finality, the strange logic that makes perfect sense when the heart is broken. The writing is sparse yet devastating; every sentence feels deliberate, almost surgical, and yet deeply human. She blends memory, medical detail, and emotional truth in a way that feels intimate, never intrusive. This is not a comforting book in the traditional sense, but it is an honest one. It doesn’t offer closure or easy healing—only understanding. The Year of Magical Thinking reminds us that grief is not linear, that love lingers in habits and thoughts long after loss, and that surviving can sometimes look like quietly enduring. A profound, haunting read that stays with you long after the last page.

It was so good to read this book. I have just lost my husband after a crazy month at the hospital and home. I could so relate to it all....makes me feel I am not alone.

Very gripping

Very moving first hand account of grief and coming to terms with loss. Didion's signature style makes for easy and seductive reading.

The book is a such a refreshing turnaround from that. Joan's account is relatable - sometimes objective, other times deeply personal.

In an attempt to bring the greatest possible diversity to my feedback, I present you with two reviews in one. My fiancee and I often read and critique the same books so I give you a review in matching His and Hers format below: Laura's Review (Hers): I enjoyed this book, as much as a book about grief can be enjoyed. Ms. Didion skillfully articulated her feelings and thoughts after the sudden death of her husband and during her daughter's illness. Having recently lost a brother I was able to connect deeply with many of her thoughts, particularly the magical thinking she describes. It's not often that I read a book and think "oh my gosh, that's EXACTLY how I've felt" but this book did that for me. Ms. Didion helped me be able to articulate my own thoughts at times when I couldn't begin to articulate them myself. I applaud Ms. Didion's willingness and ability to put herself out in public view in such a raw, vulnerable way. Death of a loved one is, I believe, a deeply personal experience and I can't imagine sharing my innermost vulnerabilities and thought processes with the public. Perhaps doing so was cathartic for Ms. Didion; I don't know. I do know, however, that it takes a great deal of courage to do so. Some reviewers have criticized the book for its representation of the privileged life Ms. Didion lives. While I agree that there are numerous references to events and experiences that many people will never have, I don't fault her for that. She wrote this book from her own perspective, from her own viewpoint, and as such she presented her life honestly. I respect a person who is not apologetic for having had such opportunities. I recommend this book. While it is not a happy read, it is evocative and beautifully written. Rob's Review (His): Seldom is a topic of such keen and personal import brought to the page with this much skill and candor. Didion lays bare her soul as she deals with the sudden death of her husband in a year that finds her experiencing all the phases of grief in textbook fashion. The Year should be required reading for anyone dealing with loss if for no other reason than to allow the reader the knowledge that grieving is a universal, expected and normal reaction to loss. The only factor which leaves it dangling at less than a five-star rating for me is that it's not all that personally relatable. I appreciate endlessly her skill and honesty in this work but never having had the experience she describes it fails to resonate with me. I empathize greatly and appreciate her retelling of this period in her life but there are no points at which I can pin my story to her own. As such, it is an interesting museum piece, a fragment of someone else's life, but not something I can currently internalize.

Some disjointed writing. Not useful for me

Livro tocante e muito bem escrito.

Ce livre écrit par l'écrivain Joan Didion est très émouvant mais aussi très instructif. L'essai décrit le choc et l'émotion de Didion après la mort soudaine de son mari, aussi écrivain. Page après page nous suivons les différentes étapes des faits et des émotions qui suivent la mort d'un être aimé. Même si le lecteur ou la lectrice ne souffre pas du même genre de deuil, car tout le monde ne perd pas un mari à table d'une crise cardiaque fulgurente, ce livre ne peut pas ne pas émouvoir et réconforter. Il faut aussi noter que le livre est très bien écrit ce qui est rare dans ce genre de livre très personnel qui est souvent écrit par des gens sincères mais mauvais écrivains. Ce livre publié en 2005 a eu un grand succès auprès du public qui était fasciné par la précision des souvenirs de Didion, la reconstitution de son mariage, la maladie de sa fille, la force de son amour et de son désemparement pendant cette année de "pensées magiques" qui ont marqué cette première année de deuil.

Great book to read. Enjoyed reading it

Didion gives us the privilege of spending a year with her. A year in which her husband dies of a massive heart attack at the table as they sit down for dinner, and a year in which her only child hangs onto life by a thread in intensive care suffering from one potentially fatal illness after another. Didion's prose is always lucid, but here the crisp journalistic approach to her subject is muted by her personal odyssey, her frantic need to try to understand and get to grips with events and feelings that are not as easily pinned down or understood as the hard facts and figures she reads and writes about, trying to give herself something to use as an anchor point in her rapidly disintegrating life. Other reviewers have commented on her lack of warmth, her obsessive compulsion to log the minutiae of the days that follow her husband's death and suggested that this means that she is cold. Far from it in my opinion. At the beginning of the book she talks about the strange split in one's psyche when someone close to you dies, the feeling that the world has shattered apart and will never be the same again. Yet at the same time one is obliged to continue living life as if unaffected because our modern sensibilities do not allow for outpourings of raw grief. Then there is the fact that even if we grieve more ostentatiously, the world with all its drab little facts continues turning whether we like it or not. Didion walks the tightrope between a grief so profound that she dare not throw away her husband's shoes in case he comes back and needs them, and the fact that she has to be present in the world for her daughter. She clings to the pragmatic, to the facts, like a drowning woman grabbing a life raft. Her prose is exquisite, much like her pain. An astonishing book.

Un libro muy interesante y una historia preciosa, aunque muy trágica