In the past few months, my love for women in positions of fame has grown immensely. On top of my love for Stevie Nicks, I’ve grown immense love for a woman by the name of Joan Didion. Joan, born in the early December of 1930’s, is a world renowned author to this day. Her works include The Year of Magical Thinking, Play it as it Lays, The White Album, and many more. Though, the first two books are her best, according to myself.
During the last few months, I’ve had the privilege of reading some of her work and currently I am finishing The Year of Magical Thinking, which is predominantly about the death of her late husband, John. Published in 2005, the novel has since been acclaimed as “a classic book about mourning”. Currently, the book is living up to its reputation for the realistic mourning situations, such as the phases of grief, like denial. I haven’t finished it just yet, but you can expect a review when I do.
I was first introduced to her works earlier this summer when I had purchased her book called, Play it as it Lays. This novel is mostly about the life of a young woman by the name of Maria, who begins with the story of her life in Hollywood before she had suffered an extreme mental breakdown. Before her breakdown, Maria was an actress whose fame was quietly dwindling and her personal life was slowly falling apart. Her mental breakdown is notably prompted by the character she has to play in her everyday life. Didion usually presents her works in the utmost realistic tone she possibly can, allowing the reader to immerse themselves into the life of the main character, and I did exactly that. I think the reasoning behind Didion’s works being so admired is because of her ability to identify and highlight a character’s counterculture within a set world, usually in Hollywood.
I am still familiarizing myself with Joan’s works but the one thing I truly admire about her is the authenticity of life’s tragedies and shortcomings she presents within her work. I, for one, am very familiar with life’s imperfections and I can appreciate the genuineness that Didion offers to her readers. If you’re looking for an author who doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to the downfalls in life, you’ve found the perfect author right here.