First Time Around: "Run, River," by Joan Didion

It's easy to see why some people just don't like Joan Didion. Granted, I would invite them to reread one of her sentences and consider how well her stuff works from a tonal perspective, but I still get the argument against her, and nowhere is it more evident than Run, River. A typical argument against Didion's work goes something like this: her books are so centered on the lives of affluent Californians that they don't really contain the insight the press kits attribute to her. It's sort of...