A Book of Common Prayer (Vintage International)
by Joan Didion
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This is the second book I have recently read about American women in Central America - a prostitute in Nicaragua (The Stars at Noon) in 1984; and really, a solid example of an American prototype in the 1970s in A Book of Common Prayer set in Boca Grande, which is described to be somewhere in Central America - but seems to possibly be fictional? I don't know, every time I try to look it up, all I find is somewhere in Florida. I find it somewhat strange that I have managed to pick up two seemingly...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
people who like Joan Didion's writing.
I started reading Joan Didion about a year or two ago. I tend to prefer her non-fiction (The White Album being a favorite) to her fiction, but overall I just enjoy her writing style. Her style tends to be meandering, not quite stream-of-conscious and definitely not linear. That makes her extremely successful at evoking mood, amiance and a general sense of time (especially the writing that she did in the 60's). For that reason it almost doesn't matter what the subject matter is. Style become...more
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Read in April, 2001
I have not been the witness I wanted to be.
Charlotte Douglas, an American woman sojourning in ficitional Central American country of Boca Grande, is the focus of this book. Charlotte's beloved daughter Marin has run off with a group of Marxist radicals and taken part in an absurd act of terrorism, and in the wake of her daughter's disappearance Charlotte's marriage to a crusading Berkeley lawyer (not Marin's father), has fallen apart.
Charlotte is a bit silly and divorced from reality and...more
Charlotte Douglas, an American woman sojourning in ficitional Central American country of Boca Grande, is the focus of this book. Charlotte's beloved daughter Marin has run off with a group of Marxist radicals and taken part in an absurd act of terrorism, and in the wake of her daughter's disappearance Charlotte's marriage to a crusading Berkeley lawyer (not Marin's father), has fallen apart.
Charlotte is a bit silly and divorced from reality and...more
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Read in October, 2007
Well, actually, I did not finish this book - it was due at the library and from the half of the book I had read, it wasn't worth the extra 25 cents they would have fined me had I kept it (I know, I could have renewed it, but by the time I realized it was due, I was already 25 cents in too deep). The writing is good, great sometimes, but the material is not, not at all sometimes. Her study of Charlotte is interesting at first, but it's only at first, and by the time I had to return the book, I di...more
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
American cynics
The narrator and protagonist of Didion's book are not the same person, but are both American expatriots living in a fictional central American backwater dictatorship, circa mid-70s. The narrator, the disaffected widow of one of the members of the ruling family (and part-time biologist) slowly unravels the life of the mysterious protagonist - a similarly disaffected American woman who has turned up for no apparent reason.
Told in Didion's typical sharp style, the story unwinds in a long ser...more
Told in Didion's typical sharp style, the story unwinds in a long ser...more
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Read in August, 2007
Didion writes beautifully here, and the story gripped me gutturally and moreso, in an abstract sense of intellectual distraction, but it is the type of slightly off-putting storytelling that makes me very uncomfortable. I'm slightly confused by this book. Buried in metaphors, I gasp for air at some beautiful truths, uncertain of their value.
I think I may be worn from stoicism, and need to take a break from her for a bit. And yet, I appreciate it also, the carefully considered word.
I think I may be worn from stoicism, and need to take a break from her for a bit. And yet, I appreciate it also, the carefully considered word.
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Read in August, 2007
This is the first Joan Didion book I've read and her style is refreshingly different. The novel is steeped in metaphors and symbolism, much of which I'm sure I missed during this first read. As I read through the book I kept trying to determine if I was enjoying it or not, given that I didn't really like any of the characters. And yet, I couldn't put the book down. Didion is a gifted writer who leaves the reader pondering the story well after the last page is turned.
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Read in December, 2007
I reread this book for the first time in about 20 years while on vacation, and I really admire Didion's narrative approach. I get the feeling that, knowing that Charlotte Douglas is a fundamentally unlikeable character (flighty, unread and uninterested in the world at large, emotionally retarded), she chose Grace Strasser to narrate Charlotte's story to allow the reader to experience at least a little sympathy for silly, shallow Charlotte.
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Read in May, 2008
I'm such a Didion fanatic. I just read this book for the first time about a month ago. Then I read it agin right away. With her fiction I always feel that I need to read something at least twice, and in quick succession. Her writing in this particular book is so emotional without being weak of feighned. Still not as good as Play it as it Lays, but I highlt recommend.
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
masochists, the emotionally unavailable
Frustratingly severe writing and elusive characters, but amazingly well-written. Is all Didion like this? I hope not. The writing is so steely and perfect, it's intimidating and off-putting. Still, there's post-modernist commentary here perhaps ahead of its time, and the book's timelessness is undeniable. Powerful. I never want to read it again.
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Read in February, 2002
recommends it for:
all
First of all, despite the title, this is not a Christian book about praying and shit like that. It’s a novel about human dislocation and the intractability of delusion, set against the backdrop of Central American revolution. Didion is best known for her nonfiction, but I proselytize for her novels every chance I get.
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Read in December, 2004
I heard through the grapevine before reading this book (my first joan didion) that she was aaron cometbus' favorite writer. now, that might be cause to run away and not read any joan didion, but rumor also came with a personal recommendation so i went for it. I've only dabbled really, but this is my favorite of hers by far.
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It’s odd, but I might never have gotten aound to reading Ms. Joan if she hadn’t been recommended by Chuck Pahlaniuk. Now I understand why he idolizes her: no one says more with less, and every word is exactly the right word. From a craft POV, she is a God, and “The Book of Common Prayer” is a masterpiece.
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I can't remember all that much about this book but certain images from it (mainly of a lady perusing the old-fashioned menu in a fancy Intercontinental Hotel as the world falls apart around her) flood back particularly when I travel in Latin America. I love Didion for being fiercely unsentimental.
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in July, 2007
I found this book to be a bit like an Antonioni movie in that it's not the plot that moves the narrative forward. Rather, it's an attempt to sketch out the character and motives of Charlotte, a woman who tries to escape her past in the South American country of Boca Grande.
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Read in November, 2006
Much more ambitious than Didion's previous novel, Play It As It Lays and almost as powerful. Once it gets going, this book rolls toward its conclusion with the unavoidability of Greek tragedy. It just takes a little too long for it to start rolling.
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Read in November, 1997
This is one of Didion's most successful novels to my mind. I tend to love her essays more, but this portrait of a woman crumbling against the backdrop of a central american coup is quite stunning.
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Read in January, 2007
Joan Didion is almost too serious to take seriously. She uses some pretty beautiful phrasing sometimes, but it is so consistently stark that it gets to be a little overbearing... to me at least.
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Read in January, 2008
Interesting fiction, my first of Joan Didion.
This was disappointing given the power of her book about her husband's death. The story was different but I found the writing disappoinging
This was disappointing given the power of her book about her husband's death. The story was different but I found the writing disappoinging
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Joan Didion's characters are generally miserable, wealthy and self destructive, but I'm trying not to let them irritate me here. Despite that, I'm enjoying this one so far.
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