I had no idea what I was embarking in with this book. While it is on the difficult topics of death and illness of loved ones, Didion strikes the balance of heightened emotion, fond memories, coping mechanisms and journalistic approach - a unique and compelling way of describing some of the toughest moments in a person's life. It is never pitying but it is an open account of the myriad of emotions and stages that the author went through. A remarkably authentic, interesting, and touching read. ( )

Heartbreaking. I could envision myself in her story. Eventually, one of us will be left to cope with the loss of the other. Selfishly, I hope it's not me. ( )

I liked this book well enough, but I was a little let down. I guess I was expecting more on how she handled the passing of her husband. There was a lot of research on grief and excerpts from various novels with some medical terms thrown in. It just felt a little disjointed. She also puts in a ton of anecdotes about her family's very privileged lifestyle which after a few chapters, it became harder to relate to her. I just wanted something more from this book, but it just seemed so shallow.
( )

Ugh, heartbreaking. Score another great audiobook for Barbara Caruso. I loved the way she said "terror" and "error." ( )

Didion writes about her life together with her husband of 40 years in the year after his death. The reader can feel her attempts to cope, to understand, to keep the pieces together. She turns to poetry, to medicine, to friends and her remembrances to try to make sense of things.
Some things come up like a mantra, and there's a sense of the time ticking and never being enough of it.
There's name and place dropping from a life together full of travel and adventures and work. There is also the overlapping trauma of her only child's very serious medical difficulties involving ICUs and surgeries during that same period of time. ( )