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Blue Nights

Joan Didion

Start date: January 1, 2023

Finish date: March 31, 2023

Discussion: 2023 Nonfiction Challenges

Why we're reading this: Poll winner for nonfiction group read 1q23
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What Members Thought

Nov 14, 2021 Lorna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: joan-didion, memoirs

A few years ago I was riveted by Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, the memoir about coping with the sudden death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. Blue Nights is Didion's subsequent memoir and dedicated to her daughter, Quintana Roo. Didion's powerful writing is both beautiful and heartbreaking as she mourns the loss of her daughter and her struggles to cope. Didion describes the sudden onset of her daughter's illness as occurring during the period of blue nights - the long, light ev A few years ago I was riveted by Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, the memoir about coping with the sudden death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne. Blue Nights is Didion's subsequent memoir and dedicated to her daughter, Quintana Roo. Didion's powerful writing is both beautiful and heartbreaking as she mourns the loss of her daughter and her struggles to cope. Didion describes the sudden onset of her daughter's illness as occurring during the period of blue nights - the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice.

"In certain latitudes there comes a span of time approaching and following the summer solstice, some weeks in all, when twilights turn long and blue."

"The French call this time of day 'I'heure bleue.' To the English it was 'the gloaming.'"

Blue Nights was a rich and textured look at the years in their early marriage living in southern California working on their careers and their decision to have a child. Didion vividly recalls the telephone call she and her husband recieved informing them that there was a beautiful baby girl waiting for them at the hospital. In a few days their beautiful baby daughter, Quintana Roo, became part of the Dunne household. Those early days are seamlessly told touching on many of the issues of parenting, including memories of Didion's own childhood interspersed with many vivid snapshots of Quintana's childhood in Malibu, including a lot of Quintana's poetry. There are the recollections of the many trips taken as a family, some work-related, others personal. The memoir opens with Joan Didion recalling her memories from Quintana Roo's wedding on what would have been her first anniversary had she lived.

If we have come to appreciate anything about the writing of Joan Didion, it certainly is her unflinching ability to put all of her doubts, fears, misgivings, grief and sadness on paper for all to see. At times it is almost too raw in its telling. In this memoir, Didion comes to terms with her feelings of loss as she weaves in her fears of aging. This was a beautiful book and a lovely tribute to Quintana Roo. ...more

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Dec 03, 2013 Kristine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-about-families-siblings-frien, non-fiction-memoirs-bios

I read this so many years ago, but it still stays with me. Joan Didion really is a fearless writer and was so honest about her grief, loneliness, fear, sadness about her daughter’s death. It is palpable the feelings and so raw. Incredible book 📚

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Jun 05, 2012 Ava Catherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: bio-memior-autobiography, nonfiction, 2018

After the death of her daughter, Joan Didion searches her soul for answers about parenting and aging. A laying bare of Didion's soul in a quest for age old answers. I always enjoy Didion's works, and this one was no exception; however, I think it helps if you have read The Year of Magical Thinking first. ...more

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Nov 09, 2021 Lorraine rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction, audiobook, autobiography, death-dying-grief, essays

A deeply emotional 🖤 read. Joan Didion’s grief at the loss of her daughter and husband is palpable. Her loneliness is heartbreaking. I thought Didion was so courageous and brave to put such raw emotions down on paper. Even so, it was a troubling read for me, the reader, perhaps because there was no resolution… but then that wouldn’t be reality would it?!
A second reading 4/2025
I recently lost my son this April to his long battle with kidney disease and felt drawn to read Joan Didion’s Blue Nights ...more

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Feb 24, 2018 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoirs, audiobooks

This year, I have been trying to read books by writers who are new to me. I have already read four authors that I never read before. So, I decided to read something by Joan Didion because her books have been mentioned multiple times in My Ideal Bookshelf (edited by Thessally La Force).

I'm not sure if this particular book was the best choice as an introduction to Joan's work. (Slouching Toward Bethlehem was the book most referenced in My Ideal Bookshelf.) Perhaps, because of the subject matter a ...more

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Jun 17, 2020 Sherri rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-reads, non-fiction, bio-memoir, library-books-read

"You have your wonderful memories..." people said later, as if memories were solace. Memories are not. Memories are by definition of times past, things gone. Memories are the uniforms in the closet, the faded and cracked photographs, the invitations to the weddings of the people who are no longer married, the mass cards from the funerals of people whose faces you no longer remember. Memories are what you no longer want to remember. ...more

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