I had a college professor who ruined Joan Didion for me -- seriously, she wanted us all to write like Joan Didion, which is so weird when you should be encouraging students to find their own voice. So, I've shied away from her work for decades and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked "Democracy."

Sort of a tragic romance set amid a dysfunctional, political family in the midst of the Vietnam War. Didion's unique narration style -- where she integrates an almost reporter-like feel as she tells you about the types of things she should have included but didn't, but did, it makes for a really interesting read. ( )

The first few pages were interesting. That's what the first few pages were. The rest of part one was a veritable bore, in spite of the chopped up narrative, never living up to what seemed to be its promise. Most memorable was the misspelling of rijsttafel as rijstaffel. Was it on purpose? Does it mean anything? Does a rice table undermine the grand narrative in ways the rest of the book tries but fails? Part two and three decided to change into something akin to a normal narrative, but that didn't improve the book any. Still, at least my enjoyment of the book oscillated by this point, perhaps even with a vaguely upward trend.

In the end, Democracy is a quick, boring read with a mildly interesting ironic narrative gimmick. The constant false starts and repetitions are presumably meant to undermine the grand narratives of modernity, those of the American democracy in particular. Instead we get a dull soap opera with lifeless characters dressed up in a thin veneer of literary play.

Cross-posted from my blog. ( )

Didion has a wonderful ear for dialogue and this novel, short as it is, manages to touch on some very weighty themes. And, allows us to see ourselves as only others can. ( )

Huh? 160 pages later. Huh? I love Joan Didion and respect her unique intelligence but this is one that has no bridge from her mind to mine. ( )

somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars. this is strangely written (both in prose style and in the fact that she inserts herself as author, as didion into the book). for the first 25 or 30 pages that distracted me, then i got over it and found i enjoyed the book much more. i think the title is probably brilliant at all it hints at and all the underlying issues it speaks to. the rest of the book was less so to me, although i enjoyed it. ( )