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Joan Didion und wie sie die Welt sah
Stell dir vor, du betrittst die Welt von Joan Didion und plötzlich wird alles ein bisschen cooler, witziger und nachdenklicher. Genau das passiert, wenn wir das Buch von Evelyn McDonnell aufschlagen. Die amerikanische Journalistin hat sich an die Fersen ihres Vorbilds geheftet: Joan Didion, Meisterin der scharfen Beobachtungen, Essayistin, Stilikone und wichtigste Chronistin ihrer Zeit.
So wie Didion 1975 Absolventen einer kalifornischen Hochschule riet: »Stürzt euch hinein in den Aufruhr der Welt«, stürzt McDonnell sich in Didions Welt und nimmt uns mit auf einen faszinieren Roadtrip, der in Didions Heimat Sacramento beginnt und uns über Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan, Miami und Hawaii zu ihren literarischen Topoi, stilistischen Sternstunden und persönlichen Schlüsselmomenten führt.
Schreiben war für Joan Didion mehr als nur eine Berufswahl, es war eine Mission – wer sie war, warum sie war, wie sie war. »Joan Didion und wie sie die Welt sah« ist eine Einladung, von ihr nicht nur Schreiben, sondern fürs Leben zu lernen: Skepsis, Scharfsinn, Selbstachtung, Stil.
So wie Didion 1975 Absolventen einer kalifornischen Hochschule riet: »Stürzt euch hinein in den Aufruhr der Welt«, stürzt McDonnell sich in Didions Welt und nimmt uns mit auf einen faszinieren Roadtrip, der in Didions Heimat Sacramento beginnt und uns über Los Angeles, Malibu, Manhattan, Miami und Hawaii zu ihren literarischen Topoi, stilistischen Sternstunden und persönlichen Schlüsselmomenten führt.
Schreiben war für Joan Didion mehr als nur eine Berufswahl, es war eine Mission – wer sie war, warum sie war, wie sie war. »Joan Didion und wie sie die Welt sah« ist eine Einladung, von ihr nicht nur Schreiben, sondern fürs Leben zu lernen: Skepsis, Scharfsinn, Selbstachtung, Stil.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 26, 2023
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4332 people want to read
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January 17, 2024This is a difficult one to rate. While I enjoyed reading it and found it extremely interesting, I couldn't help but wonder what Joan herself would think of it.
August 7, 2024
as a joan didion fan, this was an interesting and enjoyable book. however, if you’ve read a lot of didion’s work and other interviews/profiles of her like i have, there’s not really much new insight or information here.
November 16, 2023
Meh. If you are a Didion fan already and have read a couple of her books, I'm not sure what additional insight this book provides beyond what has been written in New Yorker pieces and coverage of the auction of her things after her death. This book could have been called "Didion and Me" for all the grasping comparisons the author makes to her own life and Didion's.
January 2, 2024
Writers writing about other writers often slip into personal exposition as much as biography, I know this as much as the next person, but McDonnell’s self-insertions are really too much for me to stand. The writing is indulgent, and I can feel the effort behind it. Stylistically she reads as if she is wearing another writer’s coat but the coat is ill-fitting and no one wants to do her the favor of telling her this. I found myself, at times, physically repelled by some her language—why ever allow the words “memers” and “vibe” into your book, not to mention the distasteful excess of wink-wink-nudge-nudge jokes about whiteness and gender. (This kind of pseudo-self-awareness is very embarrassing to witness.) Her coverage and exploration of Didion are certainly interesting and add depth to the writer, but as much as this book showcases Didion, it ultimately reflects poorly on McDonnell.
January 11, 2024
The World According to Joan Didion, by Evelyn McDonnell, is a study of the much-acclaimed journalist and novelist. The World According to Joan Didion is a difficult book to categorize: it’s not a biography, it’s not a work of literary criticism, and it’s not a memoir of McDonnell’s relationship with Didion’s writing. This loose categorization ultimately hurts the book and prevents it from being an essential work. It’s almost as if the publisher asked Evelyn McDonnell, “Hey, can you write 240 pages about Joan Didion? Great, let’s publish it.” A tighter focus would have helped produce a better book.
The World According to Joan Didion is organized not chronologically but thematically, which adds to the disjointed sense of the book’s purpose. The chapter titles are all one word long, relating to themes in Didion’s life and work: “Gold,” “Snake,” “Man,” “Girl,” “Hotel,” and so on. There really should have been a chapter about the Santa Ana winds, a continuing obsession of Didion’s. The titles don’t really give you much of a sense of what the chapters are about. Why the generic “Man” and “Girl” for the chapters about John Gregory Dunne and Quintana Roo Dunne, rather than “Husband” and “Daughter”? And while we’re at it, can we please talk about the name Quintana Roo? Didion and John Gregory Dunne named their adopted daughter after a province in Mexico, which is, at best, unbearably precious, and at worst, culturally appropriative.
While I have no doubt that McDonnell has a deep knowledge of Didion’s work, the book simply does not dig deep enough into Didion’s work to fully demonstrate her excellence as a writer. McDonnell writes about Didion’s preoccupation with style, but the examples she cites from Didion’s own writings are wafer-thin. The examples are: “dirty crepe-de-Chine wrapper,” “cutoff jeans and a denim Levi jacket with metal studs,” and “black silk dress,” which are all pretty basic descriptions. Surely there must be more detailed descriptions of style in Didion’s writings?
I like Joan Didion’s writing, but I find the whole cultish adoration of Didion as a status symbol of cool a bit annoying. This type of adoration was visible in the 2022 auction of Didion’s estate. Thirteen blank notebooks of Didion’s sold for $11,000. A pair of Celine sunglasses went for $27,000. As McDonnell writes, “the one-day display of materialistic idolatry was hard to watch, even for a Didion fan.” (p.106) Ultimately, this type of fanatical adoration devalues Didion as a writer, and makes her into a status symbol, an avatar of cool and chic sensibility, a commodity—people should be valuing the words she wrote, rather than her sunglasses and her Corvette Stingray.
Some sloppy editing mistakes occur in The World According to Joan Didion: on the same page, Tracy Daugherty’s biography of Didion is referred to by its correct title, The Last Love Song, and also, inexplicably, as The Last Love Child. (p.81) Later on, it’s noted that Tom Brokaw had a conversation with Didion and Dunne about El Salvador. One the next page of the book, it’s suddenly Dan Rather who talked to Didion and Dunne. So, which 1980’s news anchor was it, really? (p.178-9)
McDonnell is obviously a great admirer of Didion’s writing, but she also grapples with the complexities and contradictions in Didion’s work and life. She writes: “And yet, despite her influence as a trailblazer, when it comes to being an icon for women, Joan Didion can be deeply problematic.” Didion wrote a vicious takedown of feminism in her 1972 essay “The Women’s Movement.” As McDonnell writes, “the essay was overall a mean-spirited attack on second-wave feminism that revealed more about Didion’s lack of consciousness than the real growing pains of an important and necessary movement for change.” (p.212)
As I was reading The World According to Joan Didion, I wondered what Didion’s relationship with Tom Wolfe was like. I assume there was mutual respect for each other’s work, as Wolfe included Didion in his collection The New Journalism. But were they actually friends? I don’t know, but I'd be intrigued to learn the answer. There are interesting similarities between the two authors: they both came from backgrounds in journalism before they published books, they excelled at both fiction and journalism, they were both famous for their chic personal style, and they both wrote books about Miami—Didion’s 1987 non-fiction Miami, and Wolfe’s 2012 novel Back to Blood. Stylistically, they were opposites: whereas Wolfe was a maximalist, famous for his liberal use of exclamation points, repeated colons, and onomatopoeia, Didion was a Hemingway-esque minimalist, expressing herself in taut sentences. And while Didion usually inserted herself to some degree or another in her journalism, Wolfe assiduously kept himself out of his journalism.
I’m not quite sure who I’d recommend The World According to Joan Didion to. If you haven’t read any of Didion’s work, it might be too much, but if you’re a diehard Didion fan, it might be too little. That’s the fundamental problem with the book, it’s not clear what it is supposed to be, and that holds it back from really being an essential work.
The World According to Joan Didion is organized not chronologically but thematically, which adds to the disjointed sense of the book’s purpose. The chapter titles are all one word long, relating to themes in Didion’s life and work: “Gold,” “Snake,” “Man,” “Girl,” “Hotel,” and so on. There really should have been a chapter about the Santa Ana winds, a continuing obsession of Didion’s. The titles don’t really give you much of a sense of what the chapters are about. Why the generic “Man” and “Girl” for the chapters about John Gregory Dunne and Quintana Roo Dunne, rather than “Husband” and “Daughter”? And while we’re at it, can we please talk about the name Quintana Roo? Didion and John Gregory Dunne named their adopted daughter after a province in Mexico, which is, at best, unbearably precious, and at worst, culturally appropriative.
While I have no doubt that McDonnell has a deep knowledge of Didion’s work, the book simply does not dig deep enough into Didion’s work to fully demonstrate her excellence as a writer. McDonnell writes about Didion’s preoccupation with style, but the examples she cites from Didion’s own writings are wafer-thin. The examples are: “dirty crepe-de-Chine wrapper,” “cutoff jeans and a denim Levi jacket with metal studs,” and “black silk dress,” which are all pretty basic descriptions. Surely there must be more detailed descriptions of style in Didion’s writings?
I like Joan Didion’s writing, but I find the whole cultish adoration of Didion as a status symbol of cool a bit annoying. This type of adoration was visible in the 2022 auction of Didion’s estate. Thirteen blank notebooks of Didion’s sold for $11,000. A pair of Celine sunglasses went for $27,000. As McDonnell writes, “the one-day display of materialistic idolatry was hard to watch, even for a Didion fan.” (p.106) Ultimately, this type of fanatical adoration devalues Didion as a writer, and makes her into a status symbol, an avatar of cool and chic sensibility, a commodity—people should be valuing the words she wrote, rather than her sunglasses and her Corvette Stingray.
Some sloppy editing mistakes occur in The World According to Joan Didion: on the same page, Tracy Daugherty’s biography of Didion is referred to by its correct title, The Last Love Song, and also, inexplicably, as The Last Love Child. (p.81) Later on, it’s noted that Tom Brokaw had a conversation with Didion and Dunne about El Salvador. One the next page of the book, it’s suddenly Dan Rather who talked to Didion and Dunne. So, which 1980’s news anchor was it, really? (p.178-9)
McDonnell is obviously a great admirer of Didion’s writing, but she also grapples with the complexities and contradictions in Didion’s work and life. She writes: “And yet, despite her influence as a trailblazer, when it comes to being an icon for women, Joan Didion can be deeply problematic.” Didion wrote a vicious takedown of feminism in her 1972 essay “The Women’s Movement.” As McDonnell writes, “the essay was overall a mean-spirited attack on second-wave feminism that revealed more about Didion’s lack of consciousness than the real growing pains of an important and necessary movement for change.” (p.212)
As I was reading The World According to Joan Didion, I wondered what Didion’s relationship with Tom Wolfe was like. I assume there was mutual respect for each other’s work, as Wolfe included Didion in his collection The New Journalism. But were they actually friends? I don’t know, but I'd be intrigued to learn the answer. There are interesting similarities between the two authors: they both came from backgrounds in journalism before they published books, they excelled at both fiction and journalism, they were both famous for their chic personal style, and they both wrote books about Miami—Didion’s 1987 non-fiction Miami, and Wolfe’s 2012 novel Back to Blood. Stylistically, they were opposites: whereas Wolfe was a maximalist, famous for his liberal use of exclamation points, repeated colons, and onomatopoeia, Didion was a Hemingway-esque minimalist, expressing herself in taut sentences. And while Didion usually inserted herself to some degree or another in her journalism, Wolfe assiduously kept himself out of his journalism.
I’m not quite sure who I’d recommend The World According to Joan Didion to. If you haven’t read any of Didion’s work, it might be too much, but if you’re a diehard Didion fan, it might be too little. That’s the fundamental problem with the book, it’s not clear what it is supposed to be, and that holds it back from really being an essential work.
February 4, 2024
Nie wiem czy to siła McDonnell czy Didion, nie będę też w swojej opini nawet w małej części obiektywna. Ja po prostu jestem zafascynowana postacią Joan i czytanie tej książki było fanowską gratką.
To absolutnie nie jest biografia, to raczej esej autorki o kobiecie, której co prawda nigdy osobiście nie spotkała, ale która od lat była dla niej inspiracją. Jak pisze sama McDonnell chciała ona jedynie prześledzic dziedzictwo Joan i zmapować historię o jej życiu odwiedzając miejsca, w których autorka żyła i o których pisała. Zaczyna od Sacramento, w którym Joan się wychowała, i które ją ukształtowało, mimo tego jak długą przemianę przeszła potem z młodej zwolenniczki republikanów, córki pionierów i kolonizatorów do bogaczki z Upper East Side mocno zaangażowanej społecznie w sprawy mniejszości, w tym osób czarnoskórych. „Nie sądzisz, że niekiedy ludzi formuje krajobraz, wśród którego dorastali?”.
Jak to jest stać się Joan Didion? W wieku pięciu lat trzeba napisać opowiadanie, w którym „bohater zasypia, zamarzając na Arktyce, tylko po to, by zbudzić się na Saharze i w południe umrzeć z gorąca”. A w wieku sześciu fantazjować o braniu rozwodu w Argentynie w czarnej jedwabnej sukni i ciemnych okularach (a nie o ślubie!!). Potem w wieku 26 lat należy jednocześnie chcieć być molem książkowym i królową balu, a jako dziennikarka jeździć do niebezpiecznego Salwadoru i pisać stamtąd relacje, a potem zabrać się za tekst o modzie.
Oczywiście oprócz pokazania wspaniałości i siły Didion, autorka sporo miejsca przeznacza na największe tragedie, które dotknęły pisarkę, śmierć męża i córki. I nie ucieka od kwestii trudnej relacji Joan z feminizmem.
Polecam bardzo, szczególnie osobom zaznajomionym już z twórczością Didion.
To absolutnie nie jest biografia, to raczej esej autorki o kobiecie, której co prawda nigdy osobiście nie spotkała, ale która od lat była dla niej inspiracją. Jak pisze sama McDonnell chciała ona jedynie prześledzic dziedzictwo Joan i zmapować historię o jej życiu odwiedzając miejsca, w których autorka żyła i o których pisała. Zaczyna od Sacramento, w którym Joan się wychowała, i które ją ukształtowało, mimo tego jak długą przemianę przeszła potem z młodej zwolenniczki republikanów, córki pionierów i kolonizatorów do bogaczki z Upper East Side mocno zaangażowanej społecznie w sprawy mniejszości, w tym osób czarnoskórych. „Nie sądzisz, że niekiedy ludzi formuje krajobraz, wśród którego dorastali?”.
Jak to jest stać się Joan Didion? W wieku pięciu lat trzeba napisać opowiadanie, w którym „bohater zasypia, zamarzając na Arktyce, tylko po to, by zbudzić się na Saharze i w południe umrzeć z gorąca”. A w wieku sześciu fantazjować o braniu rozwodu w Argentynie w czarnej jedwabnej sukni i ciemnych okularach (a nie o ślubie!!). Potem w wieku 26 lat należy jednocześnie chcieć być molem książkowym i królową balu, a jako dziennikarka jeździć do niebezpiecznego Salwadoru i pisać stamtąd relacje, a potem zabrać się za tekst o modzie.
Oczywiście oprócz pokazania wspaniałości i siły Didion, autorka sporo miejsca przeznacza na największe tragedie, które dotknęły pisarkę, śmierć męża i córki. I nie ucieka od kwestii trudnej relacji Joan z feminizmem.
Polecam bardzo, szczególnie osobom zaznajomionym już z twórczością Didion.
October 24, 2023
I was disappointed by the quality of citations in this book. I was looking for a specific essay, “On Being a Cop Hater,” (great read), but McDonnell did not cite the issue of the Saturday Evening Post, let alone the pages, date, etc (p. 141). It was kinda a nightmare to find the original essay.
And so I became Alice, thrown into the citation rabbit-hole. Trying to find McDonnell’s sources is not dissimilar to navigating Wonderland—a land of double standards, trick mirrors, and plain illogicality. De omnibus dubitandum.
In lieu of citing her facts, McDonnell tells us, “I read numerous articles in newspapers, magazines, journals, and books by and about Joan Didion” (p. 241). Oh! I feel better now! No need to cite — just tell me you read it. All good.
Her “list of recommended readings” (p. 241) does not indicate what quotes or facts are from those sources. Further, sources are missing. “On Being a Cop Hater” is not mentioned. Neither are other articles, speeches, songs, or movies she quotes. Or the archives — the mountains of Didion’s journals, letters, lists, recipes, etc. at UC Berkeley and the NYPL which McDonnell drew from.
Further, there is a lack of standardization within the in text citations, which becomes an issue when those are the only citations you have. When McDonnell quotes “On Self Respect” and “Take No for Answer,” Didion pieces published in magazines, she mentions the specific month they were published (June and October 1961, respectively) (p. 70), unlike when she cites “On Being a Cop Hater.”
Another example: most critics’ quotes are specifically cited (“Zadie Smith wrote in the New Yorker” (p. 231), “In a 2022 article for The Atlantic, writer Caitlin Flanagan …” (p. 91)).
But not always. Page 99: “The New York Times, in its review of Slouching, called it ‘a rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country.’” Who said that? When? These should be answered by the author, not Google. These phrasing indicates that the Times editorial board gave the quote, when in fact Dan Wakefield said it for the Times in the July 21, 1968 issue. That’s what a citation looks like! Put it in the back of the book for nosy people like me!
(She again attributes a quote to the Times rather than author on p. 105, among other places.)
I understand that this is not a research paper and is closer to a memoir/love letter to/ long article on Didion. But that does not excuse a lack of citations. This is, ultimately, a biography. That entails a certain responsibility which I had hoped McDonnell would act on, considering she is a professor of journalism at LMU.
———————————————— ————————
I liked this because I like Didion. Some of it was great, some of the authors bits about herself I could have gone without. When it compiled other people’s words and Didion words it was great, when she interjected, especially in Hawaii, it was weaker.
And so I became Alice, thrown into the citation rabbit-hole. Trying to find McDonnell’s sources is not dissimilar to navigating Wonderland—a land of double standards, trick mirrors, and plain illogicality. De omnibus dubitandum.
In lieu of citing her facts, McDonnell tells us, “I read numerous articles in newspapers, magazines, journals, and books by and about Joan Didion” (p. 241). Oh! I feel better now! No need to cite — just tell me you read it. All good.
Her “list of recommended readings” (p. 241) does not indicate what quotes or facts are from those sources. Further, sources are missing. “On Being a Cop Hater” is not mentioned. Neither are other articles, speeches, songs, or movies she quotes. Or the archives — the mountains of Didion’s journals, letters, lists, recipes, etc. at UC Berkeley and the NYPL which McDonnell drew from.
Further, there is a lack of standardization within the in text citations, which becomes an issue when those are the only citations you have. When McDonnell quotes “On Self Respect” and “Take No for Answer,” Didion pieces published in magazines, she mentions the specific month they were published (June and October 1961, respectively) (p. 70), unlike when she cites “On Being a Cop Hater.”
Another example: most critics’ quotes are specifically cited (“Zadie Smith wrote in the New Yorker” (p. 231), “In a 2022 article for The Atlantic, writer Caitlin Flanagan …” (p. 91)).
But not always. Page 99: “The New York Times, in its review of Slouching, called it ‘a rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country.’” Who said that? When? These should be answered by the author, not Google. These phrasing indicates that the Times editorial board gave the quote, when in fact Dan Wakefield said it for the Times in the July 21, 1968 issue. That’s what a citation looks like! Put it in the back of the book for nosy people like me!
(She again attributes a quote to the Times rather than author on p. 105, among other places.)
I understand that this is not a research paper and is closer to a memoir/love letter to/ long article on Didion. But that does not excuse a lack of citations. This is, ultimately, a biography. That entails a certain responsibility which I had hoped McDonnell would act on, considering she is a professor of journalism at LMU.
———————————————— ————————
I liked this because I like Didion. Some of it was great, some of the authors bits about herself I could have gone without. When it compiled other people’s words and Didion words it was great, when she interjected, especially in Hawaii, it was weaker.
January 12, 2025
It has been a wonderful introduction to Joan Didion
October 7, 2023
McDonnell says it herself: “This is not Joan’s complete story. It is more of a notebook, trying to remember what it was for her to be her, at different places and different times.” Coming in at only 256 pages, this is far from a comprehensive biography of Joan Didion’s life. Rather, it is more of a biography and an exploration of Didion’s writing than it is anything else. McDonnell dissects Didion’s writing: themes, sentence structure, influences, etc. and explores what made her the literary icon that she is. This biography only confirms for me what a fascinating woman Didion was and how deserving she is of her fame.
Very well researched and insightful. McDonnell included bits of interviews and first hand accounts from Didion’s family, friends, lovers, coworkers, and fans. I enjoyed having a deeper look in to Joan’s childhood, her life with John and Q, her inspirations for her work, and her career.
I could have done without the pieces about the authors own life. With respect, people come to this book to learn more about Joan Didion. While she finds ways to relate moments in her own life to Didion’s—so it’s not completely out of left field— I felt that the writing the author included about herself didn’t belong here. Also, for this to be labeled a biography, there are too many of the author’s opinions and conjectures sprinkled throughout. It wasn’t something that took away from the book for me but I think it will for some people.
“Most of us have a Joan Didion origin story: the article, or book, or photograph, or quote that first made us want to know more about this quiet oracle.”
My Joan Didion origin story: In 2022, I moved to Los Angeles. That same year, I read numerous books (fiction and nonfiction) that mentioned Joan Didion. Some authors mentioned her love of LA, some authors mentioned her wonderful prose, others authors mentioned their reliance on Didion's work. It was because of these two things—my move to LA and the multiple references to Didion in books that I was reading— that I actually wrote in my notebook one day: "Who IS this Joan Didion person? Her name has now appeared in the last three books that I have read... Is this a sign? Do I need Joan Didion in my life? It must be." To answer myself, I think, yes, it was a sign.
Do you have a Joan Didion origin story too? I would love to hear it!
Very well researched and insightful. McDonnell included bits of interviews and first hand accounts from Didion’s family, friends, lovers, coworkers, and fans. I enjoyed having a deeper look in to Joan’s childhood, her life with John and Q, her inspirations for her work, and her career.
I could have done without the pieces about the authors own life. With respect, people come to this book to learn more about Joan Didion. While she finds ways to relate moments in her own life to Didion’s—so it’s not completely out of left field— I felt that the writing the author included about herself didn’t belong here. Also, for this to be labeled a biography, there are too many of the author’s opinions and conjectures sprinkled throughout. It wasn’t something that took away from the book for me but I think it will for some people.
“Most of us have a Joan Didion origin story: the article, or book, or photograph, or quote that first made us want to know more about this quiet oracle.”
My Joan Didion origin story: In 2022, I moved to Los Angeles. That same year, I read numerous books (fiction and nonfiction) that mentioned Joan Didion. Some authors mentioned her love of LA, some authors mentioned her wonderful prose, others authors mentioned their reliance on Didion's work. It was because of these two things—my move to LA and the multiple references to Didion in books that I was reading— that I actually wrote in my notebook one day: "Who IS this Joan Didion person? Her name has now appeared in the last three books that I have read... Is this a sign? Do I need Joan Didion in my life? It must be." To answer myself, I think, yes, it was a sign.
Do you have a Joan Didion origin story too? I would love to hear it!
September 25, 2023
Absolutely fabulous - waltzes is through Didion’s Sacramento childhood and everyone and everything that influenced her. Sometimes a painful story but always inspirational - a woman often misunderstood the author brings compassion and insight. ReD this in one fell swoop!!
January 8, 2024
Though there are many points in this book that I strongly disagree with, I truly enjoyed reading this book and thinking about Didion's life and work as a whole. One part that stuck out to me was observations on how technology and societal change motivated adaptations in Joan's work. Shifting from notecards to computers for research allowed her to extend quotes etc. These small details about an already incredibly open author were fun.
Okayyyyy and here is what I did not like!
- The citations were weird? Felt like a high school essay? No footnotes?
- Parts felt wayyyy too much like the author's own little memoir. Where is the 'we' so crucial to Didion's writing? lol.
- This one made me mad. Why were PAGES dedicated to speculation on whether Didion was a "good mother?"—Didion is so vulnerable in her books, especially those about her family, little theories on the Didion-Dunne dynamic were not needed to the extent they were discussed.
- I am an Eve Babitz lover. We know Didion was her mentor and frenemy, and Babitz took no shame in calling out Didion for her lack of intersectionality (??) BUT there was no need to paint Babitz as being more "vulnerable" for what? not having a husband? grrrrr.
Okayyyyy and here is what I did not like!
- The citations were weird? Felt like a high school essay? No footnotes?
- Parts felt wayyyy too much like the author's own little memoir. Where is the 'we' so crucial to Didion's writing? lol.
- This one made me mad. Why were PAGES dedicated to speculation on whether Didion was a "good mother?"—Didion is so vulnerable in her books, especially those about her family, little theories on the Didion-Dunne dynamic were not needed to the extent they were discussed.
- I am an Eve Babitz lover. We know Didion was her mentor and frenemy, and Babitz took no shame in calling out Didion for her lack of intersectionality (??) BUT there was no need to paint Babitz as being more "vulnerable" for what? not having a husband? grrrrr.
April 19, 2024
If you love Joan Didion's books and love her writing, this book is a must.
September 25, 2023
I requested this on a whim from NetGalley a few months ago with every intention on reading Didion’s A Year of Magical Thinking First. That didn’t end up happening - best laid plans and all that. Even so, this turned out to be an interesting look at, and exploration of, key times, places, and topics of Didion’s life, from her early childhood to her last few years. I appreciated that the chapters were grouped by topic which made it much easier to follow. This is not, and is not intended to be, a full biographical tome of Joan Didion. Coming in at less than 300 pages, it’s more of a highlight reel, which was perfect for me, someone who hasn’t actually read anything by Didion (someone please explain how I graduated with a degree in English Literature without reading any of her work?). The author clearly holds Joan in high regard and has been very influenced by her work. However, and perhaps because of this, the author’s voice is very present throughout, at times distractingly so. Overall, I liked this - 3 stars for an interesting look at a complicated cultural icon, whose work I really do need to go read now.
Pub Date: 9/26/23
Review Published: 9/25/23
eARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date: 9/26/23
Review Published: 9/25/23
eARC received from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
January 14, 2024
Derivative bio that rehashes what’s already been written. The author repeatedly inserts herself which isn’t effective nor meaningful. There is a GLARING editing error on page 178/9 where a quote from Tom Brokaw is then attributed to Dan Rather. The author totally lost me with that sloppy and obvious error. Rarely write reviews and these words are far far more than this book deserves. Don’t waste your time on this one - go straight to Tracey Daugherty’s bio, The Last Lovesong.
July 16, 2024
Earlier this month, I read "The White Album," and now I have "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" in my sights, a copy borrowed from the local library. I also just completed this lovely book, a biography of the author which renders her not in exhaustive detail but through a series of vignettes which add up to form a portrait of the artist as a complex, complicated, talented, and loving woman.
"The World According to Joan Didion," by Evelyn McDonnell, tells the story of Joan Didion, whose writing took her from her provincial life in Sacramento to the heights of Hollywood and the New York literary establishment. Alongside her husband, John Gregory Dunne, Didion found work as a screenwriter, but her best work lay in the essays and nonfiction she published over the course of her long life. When Dunne passed and her adopted daughter fell into a coma, Didion channeled her pain into her most notable work, "The Year of Magical Thinking." But not all of Didion's prose contains such grief and pain; as many of the essays in "The White Album" prove, Didion had a razor-sharp wit and a gift for looking at accepted notions of society with a gimlet eye.
McDonnell here does something similar to "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers," using an author's life and work to make a broader social commentary on literary women and the world around them (and how it responds to them). "The World According to Joan Didion" isn't a conventional biography, but therin lies its charm; it breaks down Didion's life and work into chapters centered on things that played prominent roles in her life (such as the chapters devoted to her typewriter, her investigation into the Central Park Five case, and her husband and adopted daughter). McDonnell examines Didion through her words, but also through the words of others, not all in praise of Didion's work. It's important to acknowledge Didion's thorny relationship with the zeitgeist; a noted skeptical, she didn't fit comfortably into any ideological box. But her writing is just so damn good that many (though not all) of her failings may be excused, depending on your point of view. Joan Didion was an essential force in American literature; ignore her at your own risk.
I plan to read as much Didion as I can get my hands on, and this book goes a long way towards helping to fuel that desire. "The World According to Joan Didion" is a fascinating, fast-paced look at a woman whose work continues to find fans, and deservedly so.
"The World According to Joan Didion," by Evelyn McDonnell, tells the story of Joan Didion, whose writing took her from her provincial life in Sacramento to the heights of Hollywood and the New York literary establishment. Alongside her husband, John Gregory Dunne, Didion found work as a screenwriter, but her best work lay in the essays and nonfiction she published over the course of her long life. When Dunne passed and her adopted daughter fell into a coma, Didion channeled her pain into her most notable work, "The Year of Magical Thinking." But not all of Didion's prose contains such grief and pain; as many of the essays in "The White Album" prove, Didion had a razor-sharp wit and a gift for looking at accepted notions of society with a gimlet eye.
McDonnell here does something similar to "My Autobiography of Carson McCullers," using an author's life and work to make a broader social commentary on literary women and the world around them (and how it responds to them). "The World According to Joan Didion" isn't a conventional biography, but therin lies its charm; it breaks down Didion's life and work into chapters centered on things that played prominent roles in her life (such as the chapters devoted to her typewriter, her investigation into the Central Park Five case, and her husband and adopted daughter). McDonnell examines Didion through her words, but also through the words of others, not all in praise of Didion's work. It's important to acknowledge Didion's thorny relationship with the zeitgeist; a noted skeptical, she didn't fit comfortably into any ideological box. But her writing is just so damn good that many (though not all) of her failings may be excused, depending on your point of view. Joan Didion was an essential force in American literature; ignore her at your own risk.
I plan to read as much Didion as I can get my hands on, and this book goes a long way towards helping to fuel that desire. "The World According to Joan Didion" is a fascinating, fast-paced look at a woman whose work continues to find fans, and deservedly so.
August 24, 2024
I picked this book up at Powell's because I love Joan Didion. Really not the book for me, but I enjoyed talking about it with SB. I thought this would be more about her writing than her celebrity, and California worship is always tough for me. I did realize, however, that part of why I love Didion's work is her ability to write about nostalgia for places that no longer exist.
"She may have had her doubts about the women's movement, but she loved women.
Over and over, Joan was drawn to strong female subjects in her journalism: Joan Baez, Patty Hearst, Martha Stewart, Elizabeth Hardwick, Helen Gurley Brown. She was even sympathetic to Manson Family member Linda Kasabian (less so, however, to Nancy Reagan; sisterhood only went so far)."
"She may have had her doubts about the women's movement, but she loved women.
Over and over, Joan was drawn to strong female subjects in her journalism: Joan Baez, Patty Hearst, Martha Stewart, Elizabeth Hardwick, Helen Gurley Brown. She was even sympathetic to Manson Family member Linda Kasabian (less so, however, to Nancy Reagan; sisterhood only went so far)."
January 24, 2024
Uma biografia de Joan Didion com imensa qualidade. Não basta narrar os acontecimentos da vida desta grande jornalista e escritora, Evelyn McDonnell entrevistou mais de duas dúzias de pessoas, foi aos mesmos lugares que Joan frequentou e tentou sentir o que Didion sentiu. Intervindo na narrativa com a sua própria história, é o retrato de uma vida e de como Didion foi um modelo para tantas pessoas - especialmente a autora da biografia.
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August 27, 2024ohhhh I really don’t know how I feel about this. It’s always hard when people write biographies about people who passed away. I like reflecting on her life and who she was but there’s also parts in here that criticise her, particularly her capabilities as a mother that felt a bit icky to read. It’s not necessarily speaking ill of the dead but I don’t think she would’ve necessarily appreciated it either. I feel like it praised her as a journalist but not really as a person
October 13, 2023
I found this to be a very interesting look into the life of Joan Didion, the journalist, essayist and screenwriter, who died in 2021 of Parkinson's disease. I loved the photo on the cover of this book showing a very young Didion sitting in the driver's seat of a car. Back when that photo was published, she was considered a master of the "New Journalism" along with Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe, a period in her life I did not know that much about. I was more familiar with Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, but I learned many other facets of Didion's long life in the pages of this book. I would like to thank the publisher, Harper One and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 14, 2024
Great read about Joan, really pulled back the curtain on her life. Well written and well researched (though I saw one long GoodReads review on this book that was all about how she was terrible at citations which I found hilarious, I love this website). Anyway, would recommend to someone who loves Didion.
Shout out to Grant for getting me this lovely book <3
Shout out to Grant for getting me this lovely book <3
December 24, 2023
Couldn’t decide between 3 and 4 stars — if you love Joan (and I do), you’ll enjoy the little insights from those that loved her, too. But much of the conversation about Joan’s marriage, family, and politics felt like speculative projection, not real analysis. Can’t women just exist without everything they do being a statement about gender politics?!?!
April 30, 2025
It’s a profound shame that perhaps the greatest American writer of her generation has been subjected to such a poorly written and gushing tribute. I cannot say for certain that Joan Didion would have hated this book, but I am inclined to think so.
December 4, 2023
Nie jestem wielką fanką twórczości Didion, przeczytałam może dwie jej książki. Po lekturze tej biografii zapragnęłam przeczytać więcej.
March 2, 2024
Having only read a few of Didion’s books this was a fascinating insight to her life and her breadth of writing. She truly was a force in the literary world. I now need to read a few more of her books!
March 30, 2025
this was interesting, it gave me a better understanding of context but there were some points that crossed into parasocial territory …
August 4, 2024
It’s quite tricky to write about a writer, especially one that McDonnell evidentially idolises. The constant self-insert comparison made me roll my eyes constantly and was not needed. We all do it to people we look up to but did it need to be printed in a published work? In this case, I would say no.
The way in which she addressed Didion’s personal life sometimes felt like she was teetering on tactlessness.
Whilst I found the parts where she discusses Didion’s career and writing interesting, overall it felt fragmented. I don’t know if this was intentional or whether further editing was needed - I’m finding that hard to decide.
I recommend reading Didion’s work if you want to learn about the world according to Didion.
The way in which she addressed Didion’s personal life sometimes felt like she was teetering on tactlessness.
Whilst I found the parts where she discusses Didion’s career and writing interesting, overall it felt fragmented. I don’t know if this was intentional or whether further editing was needed - I’m finding that hard to decide.
I recommend reading Didion’s work if you want to learn about the world according to Didion.
September 26, 2025
a delicate, precise portrait of didion not just as a writer, but as a phenomenon, one that shaped the cultural landscape and still haunts it. mcdonnell organizes didion’s legacy through themes like grief, glamour, and california, and while some chapters feel more like curated essays than a full biography, the book still holds moments of real insight. it doesn’t try to explain didion so much as orbit her, which feels right — because didion, like all great writers, remains partially unknowable. a good entry point if you’re already under her spell.
October 19, 2023
This type of book is incapable of being good. If you’re interested in her, you know most of this info, if you aren’t interested in her, you wouldn’t read it.
January 19, 2024
A shallow study of the author’s own ego more than an examination of Didion’s works.
March 1, 2024
You will find yourself wondering, where did I hear that anecdote before? And the answer will be in the previous five pages.
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