The Year of Magical Thinking

This is Joan Didion's memoir of the year following her husband's death. Her husband was the writer John Gregory Dunne. John died on December 30, 2003 after returning from the hospital where their only child, Quintana, was seriouly ill from pneumonia and septic shock after being admitted for flu-like symptoms. Didion was putting dinner on the table when John died of a massive heart attack. "You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends." Both writers, Didion and Dunne had lived and worked toether for over forty years. Didion, deals with her first year of grief, as a writer. She chronicles her life and her feelings. Though inspired by a tragic event, Didion writes honestly and compellingly. I listened to the book on CD, wonderfully narrated by Barbara Caruso. Didion won the National Book Award for this candid memoir.