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The Last Thing He Wanted
by
Joan Didion
In her first novel in twelve years, the legendary author of Play It As It Lays and Slouching Toward Bethlehem trains her eye on the far frontiers of the Monroe Doctrine, where history dissolves into conspiracy (Dallas in 1963, Iran Contra in 1984), and fashions a moral thriller as hypnotic and provacative as any by Joseph Conrad or Graham Greene.
In that latter year Elena M...more
In that latter year Elena M...more
Paperback, 227 pages
Published
February 16th 2011
by Vintage
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I recently realized that I plan to read everything of Didion's that I can. This is the first of her novels I checked out, and it is a compelling read weaving fact and fiction in a way that sheds light on "counterintelligence", essentially where the action is in politics certainly since 1960 and arguably since the end of WWII.
Didion's story is about Elena McMahon, a woman who is never quite sure who she is as she transitions from reporter to Hollywood mogul wife to reporter...more
Didion's story is about Elena McMahon, a woman who is never quite sure who she is as she transitions from reporter to Hollywood mogul wife to reporter...more
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An intellectual thriller. Didion’s prose is brilliant—incisive, spare, understated to emphasize what’s broiling under the surface. The narrator is an unknown woman piecing the story together long after the fact, but she’s a woman who knew the main character, Elena MacMahon, in her earlier life—indeed the two women’s daughters went to the same private school, though the woman themselves were barely acquaintances. Elena left her husband—which she thought of as leaving “the house on the Pacific Coa...more
There are those writers who write well about life and then there are those writers like Didion who excel in documenting the in-betweenness of life. The ambience of being between careers, between relationships, estranged from families and those folks who happen to be where they are less by choice and more by resigned indifference to elect to go anywhere else make up her characters' milieu.
She is in her element with vanquished characters who are jaded, spent and unable to gai...more
She is in her element with vanquished characters who are jaded, spent and unable to gai...more
A quick read to put off finishing Petersburg. It wasn't bad. I just don't believe that she's suited to fiction writing, or novel writing. Her style (the repeated phrases/images) kills the pace of the book, and to some extent, the characters. They all end up speaking with her voice. One of my profs once talked about how Pasternak, for all his genius, was totally unable to write a novel (Doctor Zhivago was the result of many, many abortive efforts and it is very patchy tbh) and how it wasn't due ...more
It took me a little while to get used to the writing style; it was a bit confusing at first, but once I got into it then I was hooked.
The story was very intriguing, a very fun and quick read. Didion did a great job of making everything fit together in the end. I love mysteries, so this definitely whet my mystery appetite. And loved all the references to life in LA and life on a political campaign. Definitely identified with the main character and her struggles.
I would rec...more
The story was very intriguing, a very fun and quick read. Didion did a great job of making everything fit together in the end. I love mysteries, so this definitely whet my mystery appetite. And loved all the references to life in LA and life on a political campaign. Definitely identified with the main character and her struggles.
I would rec...more
I really have very little idea of what this book was about, who the characters were, what they did, or what happened to them. Even if I had more background knowledge of the time period (1984, mostly, I think) or the region (Central America and the islands of the Caribbean, mostly, maybe) I still don't think I would have passed a comprehension test. But Didion's writing is so gripping, so smart, so spare, and so compelling that it didn't matter. It was pure pleasure to read. I couldn't put th...more
I am a fan of Joan Didion’s nonfiction work and was excited to find her fiction. But I was somewhat disappointed. I’m not a fan of genre work. I recently proofed a murder mystery for a friend, and The Last thing He Wanted reminded me of that process.
As always, craft-wise Didion is a consummate writer. Each component of the text was meticulously constructed. Each character was full and round, including the narrator. Each place vivid and real. But each was a unit that for me didn’t quite fit...more
As always, craft-wise Didion is a consummate writer. Each component of the text was meticulously constructed. Each character was full and round, including the narrator. Each place vivid and real. But each was a unit that for me didn’t quite fit...more
I have been a fan of Joan Didion since college where I discovered books like Slouching Toward Bethlehem, The White Album, and After Henry. I recently read the moving The Year of Magical Thinking. But I had never read one of her novels until I saw The Last Thing He Wanted recommended by Ben Fountain in his list of book recommendations in the PS section of Brief Encounters With Che Guevara. So I searched it out and found it to be an intriguing tale of troubled family history, banana republics, arm...more
The crux of what went on in this book could have fit in a 15 page short story. That it ends up a 220 plus page novel, with a narrative that circles and circles the central event without ever really touching it and yet still manages to remain intriguing and fresh and compellingly page turning is an example of Didion's genius. Some of her sentences just cut right through you. I have to be in a certain mood to read Didion, but boy do I love it when I am.
I usually love Joan Didion, but this book confirms that her strength is not fiction. The reviews I read after finishing the book described it as self-indulgent, the main character distant. As a story that tries to reconstruct history from a distance, the reader never really gets close to the action--the most engaging sections speculate on history to form motives, but it's hard to care about the actions we're seeking to understand.
I have never picked up a Didion book and had to really think whether I actually found this novel well written. After mulling it over I realized I appreciated this as a writing exercise with Didion playing with how to present plot and timelines in an interesting format. However it fell far short in character development. Didion's phrasing seems rather self- indulgent - as a personal writing exercise should. Based on this introduction to Didion, I will not be picking up another Didion any time...more
It sounded like such an exciting book to read -- gun running in Central America. And I like Joan Didion's writing. But in this case, try as I might, I finally put the book down and stopped. The plot is impossible to follow because the Ms. Didion skips all over the place. Huh? Who was that person again? Wait, how did she get to the airstrip? Too much work for a not that great story.
Eh. Well. Would probably make better movie. Found the adventures of the main character to be interesting, though sometimes obscured by the narrative structure. Don't get to read books about women involved in drug/gun running to the Contras, so that was a refreshing break. Still, there was a feeling that the narrator couldn't quite piece together what this story was really about. Eh?
In details, The Last Thing He Wanted is about a covert arms deal. At heart, The Last Thing He Wanted is a winding tale of being in the wrong place and not understanding what got us there.
This was my second Joan Didion and a surprisingly difficult book to read. I think a lot of my trouble stemmed from the disconcertingly non-linear narrative. Didion's narrator (never named) analyzes a misunderstood story, and the reader (vaguely aware of some forthcoming conclusion) waits patiently fo...more
This was my second Joan Didion and a surprisingly difficult book to read. I think a lot of my trouble stemmed from the disconcertingly non-linear narrative. Didion's narrator (never named) analyzes a misunderstood story, and the reader (vaguely aware of some forthcoming conclusion) waits patiently fo...more
Kelly
added it
-History's rough draft, we used to say. When we still believed that history merited a second look.
-"Here I go again," he would say, "spilling my ideas like seed." This was a simile that never failed to please him. "Spilling my seed out where anybody in the world can lap it up. But hey, ideas are like buses, anybody can take one."
-"Here I go again," he would say, "spilling my ideas like seed." This was a simile that never failed to please him. "Spilling my seed out where anybody in the world can lap it up. But hey, ideas are like buses, anybody can take one."
This book is a fast, engrossing read, where the narration is as interesting as the plot. Told from the point of view of a distant observer who is trying to put together the pieces of the story, it leaves much unsaid. For instance, an entire love story between two main characters is hinted at in once sentence.
Beautifully readable but plotwise I found a little difficult to follow. Perhaps that is the point, as I often felt like the main character as she attempted to piece together threads from her life, her fathers and the various CIA ops, gun runners, and other shady characters.
reads like a nonfiction journalist's political expose. and as in real life, i'm left wishing i knew more about the people and the why and what they're thinking. in all, clever with intrigue. makes - or perhaps reveals - the unlikely as quite realistic.
Somehow, at once, Didion reignites one's awe for craft while dropping her reader into a world that seems wholly inevitable--impossible to imagine any other way than this.
Another dazzler that I couldn't help but flip back to page 1.
Another dazzler that I couldn't help but flip back to page 1.
This read like a book badly translated from the Slovakian. There seemed to be parts missing, and I mostly had no idea what was going on. Sorry, Joan. I'll have to try you again some other time.
From the first page of this story about the US government's involvement in the support of a corrupt South American dictatorship, Joan Didion takes you on a wild ride. A very good read.
The writing style seemed like an exercise in originality, and wasn't good enough to carry the story line.
Great book. This is the first piece of fiction I've read by Didion, and it was captivating. The writing style brings you into the story and keeps you there. Definitely recommend.
Sooooo good. This is my other favorite Joan Didion novel.
This book made me feel uncomfortable...
Couldn't get past the first few pages.
Very eliptical writer who makes me want to concentrate and stay with her. Challenging style! This is not a book to lay down for a day or two and return later! I had to review to understand where I was, what was happening and answer the question, "Who are these people?"
I do appreciate her device of "may or may not have...". An imprecise memory like mine perhaps? Written in the need-to-know style of a CIA agent. The whole thing does come together in the final pages....more
I do appreciate her device of "may or may not have...". An imprecise memory like mine perhaps? Written in the need-to-know style of a CIA agent. The whole thing does come together in the final pages....more
i love joan didion. i wish i were joan didion. she is so razor sharp. she's intellectual but with a real quirky way about her. i'm more of a fan of her non-fiction but thought i would give this a try. i really enjoyed it, the quirkiness came through. it's not her best work by far and i probably gave her an extra star because she's joan didion. she is always a challenging read though, i appreciate that. when the main character eats a sundae w/ a side of bacon, it was just the perfect balance.
Shady. With pleasingly shady deals.
It's intriguing how often the (justified) paranoia of Didion's narrator echoes her own narration in "The White Album."
Her taut, unadorned prose is always a gift.
It's intriguing how often the (justified) paranoia of Didion's narrator echoes her own narration in "The White Album."
Her taut, unadorned prose is always a gift.
I promised I'd finally get through a Didion fiction. _Slouching Towards Bethlehem_ is probably my favorite nonfiction collection. It proves that her view of the world is deep, and that as a writer she actively resists nihilism. Yet her fiction depresses me; I can't concentrate on the story, and, halfway through this one, my attention just goes on wavering.
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Joan Didion was born in California and lives in New York City. She's best know for her novels and her literary journalism.
Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation. A sense of anxiety or dread permeates much of her work.
More about Joan Didion...
Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation. A sense of anxiety or dread permeates much of her work.
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