South and West: From a Notebook
Written by Joan Didion
Narrated by Nathaniel Rich and Kimberly Farr
4/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articles--and here is one such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies' brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters' Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous light, and the preoccupation with race, class, and heritage she finds in the small towns they pass through. And from a different notebook: the "California Notes" that began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here, too, is the beginning of her thinking about the West, its landscape, the western women who were heroic for her, and her own lineage, all of which would appear later in her acclaimed 2003 book, Where I Was From.
One of TIME's most anticipated books of 2017
One of The New York Times Book Review's "What You'll Be Reading in 2017"
Incldued among the Best Books of March 2017 by both LitHub and Signature
Joan Didion
Joan Didion is one of America’s most respected writers, her work constituting some of the greatest portraits of modern-day American culture. Over the four decades of her career, she has produced widely-acclaimed journalistic essays, personal essays, novels, non-fiction, memoir and screenplays. Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award in 2005.
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Reviews for South and West
16 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An interesting listen. I wan't familiar with the author's previous works, but she managed to hold my attention with her observations and detailed descriptions of what she saw and experienced on her road trip. In a way, the book shows a dichotomy between life in the Southern U.S. and the West Coast through the eyes of an outsider, which is the focal point of the book. Give it a shot if you like reading about travel or unfamiliar places.