Home › Nonfiction › The Year of Magical Thinking
A writer’s account of the year after her husband’s sudden death
2005Steady paceMelancholic
What it is about
Joan Didion’s husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, died suddenly while their daughter lay seriously ill in a hospital. This memoir records the year that followed, in which she tried to make sense of what had happened. She combines her own experience with research on grief.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who want a thoughtful and honest memoir about loss.
What you will get
A short and well-regarded memoir. It won the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
The Year of Magical Thinking Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Nonfiction · Grief · Memoir · Marriage
Length
227 pages · ≈ 6 h
More about this book
Characters
Joan Didion, her husband and her daughter.
Setting
New York and Los Angeles, over one year.
What makes it different
A cool and precise writer looks closely at her own grief.
Feel
Sad, clear and honest.
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