AUDIO

Blue Nights

by Joan Didion
4 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 4¼ hrs. Books on Tape. 2011. ISBN 9780307940834. $25; 4 CDs. retail ed. Random Audio; Playaway digital; digital download. MEMOIR
COPY ISBN
Just 20 months after her husband died of a sudden heart attack, best-selling essayist Didion (The Year of Magical Thinking) had to face the death of her only daughter, Quintana Roo, after a long illness. This poignant and touching memoir explores her feelings about loss, motherhood, and her own aging as well as Quintana's life.
VERDICT While more rambling and repetitive than her earlier work, Blue Nights reveals flashes of Didion's brilliant style as she conveys the terrible pain of losing a child. Kimberly Farr reads with a warmth and clarity that avoids sentimentality. This book will appeal to Didion's fans and to those coping with the loss of a loved one. ["This worthwhile mediation on parenting and aging by a succinct writer...is well worth the emotional toll," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Knopf hc, LJ 9/15/11; see Major Audio Releases, LJ 9/15/11.—Ed.]
Reviewed by Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo , Feb 15, 2012
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