From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old.
Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintanaβs wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintanaβs childhoodβin Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced. βHow could I have missed what was clearly there to be seen?β Finally, perhaps we all remain unknown to each other. Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept.
Blue Nightsβthe long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, βthe opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warningββlike The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profoundly moving.
Media Buzz
Charlie Rose - November 4, 2011 Early Show - November 3, 2011 Fresh Air - NPR - November 2, 2011
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