nico’s Reviews > Salvador > Status Update

If any word can describe Didion’s prose in this essay, it’s distant. In many ways, the daily violence and terror of El Salvador’s civil war is unimaginable for Americans. Didion articulates this thoroughly, making piles of corpses and disappearances monotonous. The reader feels far away from the violence of the place, even when steeped within it.

Clear, vivid tone. Can feel the monotony of body piles and warfare.