El año del pensamiento mágico

by Joan Didion

Barcelona. 23 cm. 190 p. Encuadernación en tapa blanda de editorial ilustrada. Colección 'Literatura Random House'. Publicado también como texto impreso. Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial España . Memorias. Ficción moderna y contemporánea. Didion, Joan 1934-2021. Traducción de Javier Calvo. Título The year of magical thinking. Calvo, Javier. 1973-. traductor .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 9788439729778

Genres: Nonfiction, Plays, Audiobook, Memoir, Biography, Grief, Drama

Paperback

First published May 15, 2007

About the author

Joan Didion was an American writer and journalist. She is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism along with Gay Talese, Hunter S. Thompson, and Tom Wolfe.
Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an essay contest sponsored by Vogue magazine. Over the course of her career, Didion wrote essays for many magazines, including The Saturday Evening Post, Life, Esquire, The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. Her writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s, the Hollywood lifestyle, and the history and culture of California. Didion's political writing in the 1980s and 1990s often concentrated on the subtext of political rhetoric and the United States's foreign policy in Latin America. In 1991, she wrote the earliest mainstream media article to suggest the Central Park Five had been wrongfully convicted. In 2005, Didion won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for The Year of Magical Thinking, a memoir of the year following the death of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne. She later adapted the book into a play that premiered on Broadway in 2007. In 2013, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by president Barack Obama. Didion was profiled in the Netflix documentary The Center Will Not Hold, directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne, in 2017.

Reviews

[Lizzie S · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking read. Stunning. I may purchase a copy of this for my Grandmother, with whom I share a love of both theater and reflections on end of life.

[Siti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diario in forma non diaristica di un anno di rielaborazione del lutto per la morte improvvisa del marito, compagno, amico e collega, mentre i due affrontavano la lotta della figlia adottiva, ormai adulta e appena maritata, contro la morte. Il resoconto è un bilancio di una vita professionale e insieme di coppia, permette di riflettere sulle dinamiche del rapporto tra coniugi, ma si incentra soprattutto sui meccanismi che si innescano quando si affronta il lutto. Sarebbe più opportuno dire quando si subisce, esso infatti genera una condizione di forte stress emotivo che mette a repentaglio il benessere generale e la stessa funzionalità cognitiva. Il pensiero prima essenzialmente razionale diventa magico, ovvero cerca vie non razionali per comprendere, interpretare e analizzare quanto accaduto. La Didion ne è consapevole e rappresenta efficacemente questa nuova condizione trasformandola, terapeuticamente, in un atto creativo che genera una scrittura sofferta, necessaria e infine condivisa.

[Rachel Aranda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve gone through loss recently and was recommended this book and audiobook by a well meaning friend. Neither the original version or this play version worked for me like either of us hoped, sadly. Vanessa Redgrave is a treasure and she did a really good job performing this play. Both versions are short so you can choose whether you want to read or listen to it. I was lucky enough to get the play version from my library and Audible has it for free so if it interests you then give it a shot. I'm not sure if I'll give the full version a shot but can see how I could probably get more from it.

Update: it turns out I did give the full version a shot. Liked it better but still not a book for me.

[Patrizia · Rating 4 out of 5]

dobbiamo separarci dai morti, lasciarli andare,tenerli così come sono, morti.
Lasciare che diventino una fotografia sul tavolo.
[...]
Staccarsi da loro in acqua.
Sapere queste cose non rende più facile lasciare la presa in acqua.

[Tania · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I love you more than even one more day"

Although I thought the audio was well done, and the words beautiful, I was expecting more. This could be because I listened to the audio, or because I have been lucky enough to not lose anyone very close to me before. I think I may try and read the actual book later in life again, when I may have a better understanding of the process she describes.

[Sher · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one would want to go through a year like that. But so many of us have to, whether we like it or not. How do we get through? I guess each of us has to find his or her own way. For myself, I know “His eye is on the sparrow,” even when things don’t turn out the way I want them to. It’s hard, and it’s not fun. But it is also the price we pay for being human, and having all of the good times. It just is.

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

January 7, 2022 Update To reinstate a deleted review from August 2020.
I've read of it happening to others, but I've now found one that has happened to me. My review from 2020 was deleted without notice or recourse. Presumably this was from the time of "Not-a-Booker" fanatics deleting many Audible Originals as "Not-a-Book", an unofficial campaign which has since been reversed by allowing Audible Originals in the Official Goodreads Librarian policy.
Fortunately, I had saved my original review on an alternative online site.

2020 Magical Reprise
Review of the Audible Original audiobook edition (2020) of the original stage-play "The Year of Magical Thinking: The Play" (2007) based on the original hardcover "The Year of Magical Thinking" (2005)

Vanessa Redgrave delivers an emotional reading of the one-person stage-play. This is a role that will likely be remembered as one of her enduring performances. Her 83-year old voice is much frailer now than it was at 70 when she premiered the work, but it brings with it the added personal feeling and mourning that she has endured in the time that has passed, having lost her sister Lynn Redgrave (1943-2010) and daughter Natasha Richardson (1963-2009) in the meantime.

This is an emotionally demanding narration to perform and listen to. Those who have had loss in their lives will likely find it often touches on the sometimes crazed and wild feelings that you had and which you perhaps still do in nighttime dreams. It is fortunate that this recording could still be made as I don't know of any original 2007 recordings or films.

The Year of Magical Thinking was one of eleven Audible Original audiobooks available free to members in the month of August 2020. It is available to everyone for a standard price.

Trivia and Link
There are some archival videos from the time of Vanessa Redgrave's original performance of the play including a co-interview with writer Joan Didion and performance clips, one of which you can see on YouTube here. [TW: includes Matt Lauer introduction]

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd give it five stars for just that last paragraph. But the whole thing is achingly sad and beautiful.

[La lettrice controcorrente · Rating 4 out of 5]

 - Disperato -

L'anno del pensiero magico  di Joan Didion (Il Saggiatore) è un libro da maneggiare con cura. Un'opera che mescola dolore, amore e fragilità. Ma anche forza, lucidità, follia. L'anno del pensiero magico è un libro che costringe a fare i conti con la parte più delicata di noi stessi. La parte più nascosta, la parte che vorremmo dimenticare. 

Dire che al centro di questo libro c'è il lutto sarebbe riduttivo. L'anno del pensiero magico è un'analisi di quello che succede dopo una perdita. Didion perde il marito dopo quarant'anni di vita insieme e da lì comincia a ritroso ad analizzare ogni momento passato insieme e ossessivamente rivive il giorno della perdita.

Questo è il mio tentativo di raccapezzarmi nel periodo che seguì, settimane e poi mesi che cambiarono ogni idea preconcetta che io avessi mai avuto sulla morte, sulla malattia, sul calcolo delle probabilità, sulla fortuna e sulla sfortuna, sul matrimonio e sui figli e sulla memoria, sul dolore, sui modi in cui la gente affronta o non affronta il fatto che la vita finisce, sulla fragilità dell’equilibrio mentale, sulla vita stessa.
RECENSIONE COMPLETA: www.lalettricecontrocorrente.it

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mourning Becomes Magical
Review of the Kindle eBook edition (2009) of the original stage play (2007) adapted from the original hardcover The Year of Magical Thinking (2005)

Earlier this year, I listened to the recent recording of The Year of Magical Thinking Adaptation Audible Original (August 2020) in its audiobook revival by actress Vanessa Redgrave who had originated the role in the stage version in 2007. That performance by the 83-year-old Redgrave added an extra layer of pathos to the story of Joan Didion's mourning of her husband John Gregory Dunne and daughter Quintana Dunne.

Reading the text version now several months later, I still hear it as being performed by Vanessa Redgrave's voice in my head so it is difficult to separate the words from the performance. The one major thing that I noticed in the read-through was Didion's reference to magical thinking as part of ritual in ancient cultures i.e. if I do this, then this will appease the gods and then this other will happen. This is a small comfort to others in mourning that the somewhat crazed thinking that sometimes comes with it has been part of the human family for eons, but it is a comfort still the same.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play version of Joan Didion's memoir is achingly beautiful. She tells her experience of losing her husband and her daughter, in the space of a few short years. She expresses the sadness, the unreality, the numbness, the denial, the pain, - the magical thinking - which is inextricably associated with the loss of loved ones. She shares the beautiful memories of moments with her loved ones and her desires to never let go of those moments. She shares the details of the illness and death experiences, as well as the details of the inner experience and resistance to death and loss. I was so moved...to tears...and could relate to the painful, unforgiving reality of losing those loved ones. I really understood her year of magical thinking that was part of the grief process that one feels during the loss of a loved one.

[Maria Di Biase · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una donna che interroga la tragedia, che ripercorre attimo dopo attimo, a cercare l'errore, così da provare a porre rimedio all'inevitabile. L'ospedale sbagliato, il dottore sbagliato, l'ora sbagliata nel giorno sbagliato di un anno sbagliato. Quando la vita cambia, e cambia in un istante, aggrapparsi a un precario perché sembra l'unica soluzione, disperata e necessaria. Se avesse trovato una spiegazione, il dolore, forse, sarebbe andato via.

http://www.scratchbook.net/2015/05/la...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

One reviewer was disappointed because she expected a positive resolution, a theme of redemption or eventual peace. That Didion did not line in silver, candy-coat, happy-tize and "everything-happens-for-a-reason" her experience of the deaths of her husband and daughter, is exactly why this is a much needed narrative/memoir. Her style in writing her grief is beautiful. Her honesty and confession of her distorted thinking around loss is relate-able to those of us who know grief.
I haven't been able to get my hands on the original book yet, but when I can I will read her other works.

[sinepudore · Rating 4 out of 5]

In California scaldavamo la casa con il caminetto. A Malibu accendevamo il fuoco anche d'estate, la sera, quando calava la nebbia. Il fuoco diceva che eravamo in casa, che il cerchio era chiuso,che eravamo al sicuro per la notte.
#quote

[meow (semi hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Colleen Chi-Girl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a couple of Didon's novels during high school and college, and I really appreciated her clever delivery, her messages and information, that are all in mind so readers feel her reading is approachable and enjoyable.

I'm a no-nonsense kinda person and Joan Didion's writing of her life tugs at my heartstrings (she would probably hate that idiom). Her writing is to the point and she doesn't mince words - love this style of writing.

THIS beautiful memoir, narrated by the unparalleled, Vanessa Redgrave (choir sounds!!), is one of the best memoirs I've read. It ain't happy, but it is Didion, which is direct and heart wrenching and heartfelt. It's been on my list for a long time and now I can move onto another of her novels.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I am aware that this is just the one-woman performance and not the book. I don't mind, since the book is longer, and knowing this is a true story makes this completely heartrending.

This is a study in coming to terms with the enormity and incomprehensible finality of death. I took this journey with Neil Peart in Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road. His answer to the death of his wife and daughter was to get on his motorcycle and ride.

Joan Didion deals with the unfathomable ripping away of her loved ones in her own particular way, which would probably be easier to follow in the book. This comes across as a bit stream-of-consciousness.

I've never lost two people that close to me so close together but I suspect she's nailed it on the head. The writing is brilliant.

[Ana Pau De la Borbolla · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Tengo la total y completa certeza que volveré a este libro.

[Nona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible gave this to me for free and it was the perfect length for my ironing night. Good reason for a book, right? Except that this is not actually the book, which I will now have to hunt down and read. It is, as I found out later, an adaptation, a shorter version of the memoir - basically, as the Audible description says, a one-woman play.

But as short as it is, the impact it had on me was strong. It was such a random read that I had no idea, until the end of it, that it's a memoir and Joan Didion really went through all that. I thought it was just a brilliantly written (and performed!) short story.

It hit me hard, this story about grief. It reminded me vividly of the months after my mom died, when I felt somehow disconnected, like I was not there, like things were not really true, that she was going to come back at any moment. I related to Didion's feelings, to her disconnect from the reality. Sometimes, grief hits right when the death happens. Other times, the mind goes into a sort of protective tent of fog, and grief hits days, weeks, months later, harder than it would had you processed it earlier...

Vanessa Redgrave's performance is stellar. Well, she is stellar in anything, so no surprise here. She elevated this play to a whole new level and transported me right into Didion's psyche.

I don't recommend this to people who are freshly grieving. But as grief understanding goes, this is a good study. The incursion into Didion's mind, her thought process, her motivations were on point. I wish I could have seen this performed live.

[Rodica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was breathtaking, sad, amazing.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Free Audible this month.
First, the artistic narration performed by Vanessa Redgrave was incredible. I feel she gave such a moving performance to an already moving story.
As for Joan Didion’s memoir on the lost of her husband and daughter. I could feel her vulnerability, her pain and her loneliness. What I saw too, was a woman’s strength and courage, as she laid her bones ravaged by sorrow out for the read to view.
I’d like to share I’ve read this memoir twice before. Over the twenty year span, living my own life and experiencing loss, this memoir holds more meaning, and holds even greater meaning from the first time I read it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Stars

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this before, though before I had a goodreads account (I have not, peculiarly, read the actual prose version of The Year of Magical Thinking, which I should at some point.)

It feels strange, inevitably to say I really like this text. It's a monologue, originally performed by HRH Vanessa Redgrave, brittle amd sharp in it's language, utterly unpredictable in its narration. It's also a testament to Didion's ruthless ability to recast material in it's most devastating potential form.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I can fully appreciate this play without reading the novel. However, I was moved by the play so I can't imagine what the novel will do to me.

[Ashley Scow · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.25 rounded down) I fully realize I’m in the minority in that I didn’t care for this play… I should have read or listened to the full book instead. It lacked the profoundness I was hoping for, possibly due to the shortened version.

Listening to the audio book felt like I was stuck on the phone with a distant relative who breathlessly tells me their life story when I simply asked how their day was. I will circle back to the original book someday and try again.

[Marne - Reader By the Water · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing the memoir, I listened to the one-woman play of the same name. Vanessa Redgrave, who originated the role on Broadway in 2007, performs the Audible Original recording. The play takes Didion’s spare writing and further hones it down, removing the meat until all that’s left are the sharp and pointy bits. It was exceptional.

[Jake Hyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book presents an interesting reflection on the author’s experience. Not sure how I feel about it but I’m glad I read it.

[Paola R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joan Didion and Vanessa Redgrave and The Year of Magical Thinking and the Theater. All this at once = magic.

But. I missed Redgrave's performance in 2007 on Broadway. I thought I missed this story in the theater forever. But last season, the Keen Company brought it back to New York City, performed by Kathleen Chalfant as an itinerant performance in private residences. I saw it in a living room in someone's home in the company of other fifteen or so people.

What a magical, breathtaking event.

[Árni Freyr · Rating 5 out of 5]

tók feil og las leikritið í staðinn fyrir bókina sem það er byggt á en sé ekki eftir neinu, ótrúlega skýr hugsun og skarpur texti, didion siglir fimlega framhjá tilfinningaseminni sem er svo auðvelt að falla í þegar er skrifað um missi

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

i couldn’t breathe the whole time i read this.

[luciana]

Maybe reading this whilst spending the day in the hospital was NOT the best idea I've ever had but it sure made for an immersive read lmao.

Good introduction into Joan Didion, even though it loses some of the unique and stunning writing style we know and love from Slouching Toward Bethlehem, whilst keeping its reflective undertone.