By I long to write essays like Joan Didion. She has a style that is compulsively readable and captures the essence of 1960s Americana such that it is almost tangible even for me, born 40 years later.
About the Book
Title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays
Author: Joan Didion
Published: 1968
Genre: nonfiction, memoir, essays
My Rating: 4/5 stars
My Thoughts
I long to write essays like Joan Didion. She has a style that is compulsively readable and captures the essence of 1960s Americana such that it is almost tangible even for me, born 40 years later.
My favorite essays from this collection were “Letter from Paradise, 21° 19′ N., 157° 52′ W” which discusses Didion’s time living in Hawaii and reflects on how war has shaped the community there, and “On Keeping a Notebook” which resonated with me, as someone who keeps extensive personal diaries and writing notebooks (that would ruin my life if found)
The titular essay, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, was sobering, painting a much darker picture of the Haight-Ashbury district than usually presented in pop culture. I am someone who is greatly intrigued by 60s counterculture and on many occasions has wished I was in college then instead of now. This essay, however, gave me a more nuanced picture. Didion describes the rather bleak existence of some young people she meets, who basically spend all day every day getting high and don’t really have that much direction in anything. There is one part that stuck out to me, where she talks about a little kid whose parents gave her LSD. Now I honestly believe acid should be legalized but– not for children!
Overall, I really enjoyed this essay collection and would recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting read.
“I know something about dread myself, and appreciate the elaborate systems with which some people fill the void, appreciate all the opiates of the people, whether they are as accessible as alcohol and heroin and promiscuity or as hard to come by as faith in God or History.”
Have you read Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion, or any of the individual essays in it? What did you think? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
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