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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/421.The_White_Album?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The White Album" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917257m/421.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/421.The_White_Album?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The White Album</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/238.Joan_Didion">Joan Didion</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7003587?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars It must say something that even though I'm shit-stuffed full after two and a half rounds of Thanksgiving plates of turkey and sides I feel compelled to review a book of essays I last read 6 years ago? That something may be: I don't have a girlfriend right now. Yes, the judges are willing to accept that as a correct answer. But they will also accept '<a href="/search/search?q= The White Album&t=title"> The White Album</a> is a great book and Joan Didion is a great writer. And that answer is way easier for my ego to swallow so we're going to go with it.
 
 I'm not alone in thinking Joan Didion is a deadly and precise writer and intelligent thinker, but most people praise her writing style for it's short, terse, emotionless sentences. I don't happen to think Play It As It Lays is a good book. While I guess that goes a long way for people (people who also go out of their way to spout off about Hemmingway) what I really like about her style is how, thematically, it links together like a mosaic. Information in this book of essays and "Slouching Towards Bethleham" hits the reader from all sides and it is only when one finishes an essay is he or she able to realize what it was all about. I fucking love that. That's what life is. The not knowing. The not knowing again. The not knowing again, but this time something's going on, something's happening, something is compelling me through this day, this date, this conversation, this jog, this essay and then all of a sudden...oh, okay, that's it, and it hits you. And you finally know. Then of course, something happens and you realize you don't know shit and it's the not-knowing again and again until for a moment you do know. Life. period.
 
 Didion is a master at this mosaic style, weaving a narrative through disjointed paragraphs and asides, and it's fitting that she named this collection the White Album because the Beatles record of the same name consisted of songs coming in from all different band members (even Ringo) until the end of the session they said, okay, we now have all of the musical information we are going to get hit with, lets call it a record. 
 
 For the skeptical reader, fear not because one of the best essays is the first one, 'The WHite Album, so you could read it in the book store and decide if you want to commit ten bucks to a writer that can change (or harmonize with) your life narrative. You should probably buy the book if you like the first essay as opposed to just reading it in the book store because Didion's husband just died of cancer and she probably has medical/grief bills to deal with and I'm assuming book sales help her. Although on the subject, I just read Miranda July's book of short stories in the book store from cover to cover and really liked it but didn't want her to have any of my money because then she could stay a hungry artist. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/420400?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Baiocco's review
rating:
bookshelves: essays
recommended for: non-believers, writers, feelers

It must say something that even though I'm shit-stuffed full after two and a half rounds of Thanksgiving plates of turkey and sides I feel compelled to review a book of essays I last read 6 years ago? That something may be: I don't have a girlfriend right now. Yes, the judges are willing to accept that as a correct answer. But they will also accept ' The White Album is a great book and Joan Didion is a great writer. And that answer is way easier for my ego to swallow so we're going to go with it.

I'm not alone in thinking Joan Didion is a deadly and precise writer and intelligent thinker, but most people praise her writing style for it's short, terse, emotionless sentences. I don't happen to think Play It As It Lays is a good book. While I guess that goes a long way for people (people who also go out of their way to spout off about Hemmingway) what I really like about her style is how, thematically, it links together like...more It must say something that even though I'm shit-stuffed full after two and a half rounds of Thanksgiving plates of turkey and sides I feel compelled to review a book of essays I last read 6 years ago? That something may be: I don't have a girlfriend right now. Yes, the judges are willing to accept that as a correct answer. But they will also accept ' The White Album is a great book and Joan Didion is a great writer. And that answer is way easier for my ego to swallow so we're going to go with it.

I'm not alone in thinking Joan Didion is a deadly and precise writer and intelligent thinker, but most people praise her writing style for it's short, terse, emotionless sentences. I don't happen to think Play It As It Lays is a good book. While I guess that goes a long way for people (people who also go out of their way to spout off about Hemmingway) what I really like about her style is how, thematically, it links together like a mosaic. Information in this book of essays and "Slouching Towards Bethleham" hits the reader from all sides and it is only when one finishes an essay is he or she able to realize what it was all about. I fucking love that. That's what life is. The not knowing. The not knowing again. The not knowing again, but this time something's going on, something's happening, something is compelling me through this day, this date, this conversation, this jog, this essay and then all of a sudden...oh, okay, that's it, and it hits you. And you finally know. Then of course, something happens and you realize you don't know shit and it's the not-knowing again and again until for a moment you do know. Life. period.

Didion is a master at this mosaic style, weaving a narrative through disjointed paragraphs and asides, and it's fitting that she named this collection the White Album because the Beatles record of the same name consisted of songs coming in from all different band members (even Ringo) until the end of the session they said, okay, we now have all of the musical information we are going to get hit with, lets call it a record.

For the skeptical reader, fear not because one of the best essays is the first one, 'The WHite Album, so you could read it in the book store and decide if you want to commit ten bucks to a writer that can change (or harmonize with) your life narrative. You should probably buy the book if you like the first essay as opposed to just reading it in the book store because Didion's husband just died of cancer and she probably has medical/grief bills to deal with and I'm assuming book sales help her. Although on the subject, I just read Miranda July's book of short stories in the book store from cover to cover and really liked it but didn't want her to have any of my money because then she could stay a hungry artist. ...less

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