I've seen a lot of people compare Blue Nights to The Year of Magical Thinking - while I understand the desire to do so, I think it's a mistake. They're very different works and expecting to read something like her previous book in Blue Nights is likely to leave you disappointed. Blue Nights is a beautful and sad reflection on Didion's daughter's death and vignettes of her life. Didon also does a lot of meditation on her parenting; it's clear she has considerable regrets in that area. The book is often repetitious and a bit disjointed, which for me seemed appropriate for someone who has suffered such incredible losses. It's as if Didion, a bit shell-shocked, is telling herself the same stories over and over again in order to bring herself to believe they happened, to make sure she doesn't forget (fear of her own mortality seems to have her fearful that after her death her daughter will be forgotten entirely), and to paint a picture of her daughter's life based on the on the small and short moments that we so often overlook but that make a person who they are. I'm a Didion fan in general, but this may have been my favorite of her writing simply because of how raw it was.