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The Year of Magical Thinking Audiobook
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(3.00) - 50,306 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Didion's journalistic skills are displayed as never before in this story of a year in her life that began with her daughter in a medically induced coma and her husband unexpectedly dead due to a heart attack.
This powerful and moving work is Didion's "attempt to make sense of the weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness, about marriage and children and memory, about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself."
With vulnerability and passion, Joan Didion explores an intensely personal yet universal experience of love and loss. The Year Of Magical Thinking will speak directly to anyone who has ever loved a husband, wife, or child.
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"After reading other reviews of this book, it occurs to me that you may not be able to empathize with the Joan's story if you have not lost a spouse. I read this after my husband of 26 years died following a long illness. I not only understood her pain, I believe it helped me through mine. "
— Brenda (4 out of 5 stars)
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“An act of consummate literary bravery, a writer known for her clarity allowing us to watch her mind as it becomes clouded with grief…It also skips backward in time [to] call up a shimmering portrait of her unique marriage.”
— Time -
“Her devastating examination of grief and widowhood changed the nature of writing about bereavement.”
— The Guardian (London) -
“Some of the plainest, yet most eloquent prose you’ll ever encounter. Everyone who has ever lost anyone, or will ever lose anyone, would do well to read it.”
— Seattle Times -
“Can one call an audio performance ravishing? That’s what Barbara Caruso delivers in this perfect marriage of writing and narration…In a voice as warm and clear as wildflower honey, Barbara Caruso speaks Didion’s words as if they flow straight from her own heart. It’s subtly done: a smile in the voice when the line is witty, an intake of breath before pain. Caruso sounds fascinated. And we are engrossed from first word to last. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile -
“An exact, candid, and penetrating account of personal terror and bereavement…sometimes quite funny because it dares to tell the truth.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Achingly beautiful.”
— Los Angeles Times -
“Unforgettable…Both personal and universal. She has given the reader an eloquent starting point in which to navigate through the wilderness of grief.”
— Chicago Sun-Times -
“A work of surpassing clarity and honesty.”
— Washington Post Book World -
“An exacting self-examination…Also a heartbreaking…love letter, engrossing in its candor…Didion illuminates the bond between husband and wife.”
— Boston Globe -
“Stark and engrossing.”
— San Francisco Chronicle -
“It’s a work that touches on surprisingly uncharted territory…a work of much majesty.”
— Christian Science Monitor
Awards
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Winner of the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction
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A New York Times bestseller
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A USA Today bestseller
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Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
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A 2005 New York Times Top 10 Book
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A 2005 Time Magazine Top 10 Book
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A 2006 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Biography/Autobiography
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A 2005 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
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Oprah Pick for Best Memoirs of a Generation
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Audie Award Finalist for Best Autobiography/Memoir Narration
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A London Guardian Pick of Best Books of the 21st Century
The Year of Magical Thinking Listener Reviews
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Sev Myles, 10/7/2024
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" You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends... I just lost my Dad and brother; Didion kindly shared the grieving process by my side, and I'll forever appreciate her candor. "
— Janet, 2/13/2014 -
" Gorgeous language, painful topic, admire Didion's rather forensic approach to loss. "
— Adam, 2/4/2014 -
" Didion said she was surprised that of all her books this is the one that received notice and a prize. I'm not surprised really mainly because of the subject, but for me, having read all of her nonfiction, this book really is not among her best. I reacted to it the way I do most of her fiction, which is to feel so distanced by the voice that I never go all the way into it. I liked it, but I expected to like it so much more. "
— Jane, 1/29/2014 -
" One of my husband's attending physicians gave this book to all of the medical students working under her. I had never read anything by Didion, and because of her gifted writing, it was intriguing to witness her journey of suddenly losing her husband. "
— Missy, 1/16/2014 -
" I wouldn't really recommend this book. Portions of it were very interesting in how the main character deals with grief; however, there was much of the book that I just skimmed over because it didn't interest me. "
— Nudmfree2, 1/13/2014 -
" This book will make you stop and appreciate all the people in your life that you love. "
— Arlene, 1/7/2014 -
" I read this book, and then gave it to my sister, the year her husband died. It was an intensely necessary read. "
— Lynn, 12/10/2013 -
" I would actually give this 3.5 stars. It was a fascinating look at one woman's grief in a sympathetic but never simplistic way. There were some connections that she made that didn't mean much to me--I didn't make the leap with her. Still it was a fascinating book with many layers. "
— Sidra, 6/4/2013 -
" Death and loss. A sad fact of life. "
— Laurie, 4/1/2013 -
" An amazing memoir. Absolutely amazing. "
— Nyyfan22000, 12/29/2012 -
" "In the end it all evens out" "
— Jennifer, 11/24/2012 -
" If she weren't Joan Didion, no one would read this. Me me me what I wore me me. "
— Martha, 7/7/2012 -
" Had nice little tidbit's in it but overall i struggled to connect to this book and her writing. "
— Roma, 7/2/2012 -
" Stark, honest and magical. Didion is a strong, courageous woman who lives to write and writes to live. "
— Angchronicles, 4/20/2012 -
" Didion's writing is beautiful and surprisingly restrained given the subject matter; I am going to read one of her early essay collections, probably Slouching Towards Bethlehem, soon. "
— Laurel, 4/10/2012 -
" The author speaks from the heart about the shock and misery of losing her husband. I liked this book better than the one she recently wrote about the shock and misery of losing her only daughter. This poor lady. "
— Courtney, 3/17/2012 -
" I could reread this book a hundred times and always find something new to love about it. Beautiful! "
— Bridget, 11/16/2011 -
" Written during a year of grieving when it is still fresh and painful. You must get past her wonderfully privileged lifestyle to feel her loneliness and pain of losing a husband and friend. If you can do that you will understand her loss "
— Susan, 6/20/2011 -
" Very sad but not depressing. A great read for anyone who is, or will be (all of us?) dealing with the death of a loved one. "
— Christopher, 5/23/2011 -
" Depressing, but a great study of grief and the love you share with a spouse. "
— Alisson, 5/22/2011 -
" great writing in many parts, but got a little too self-indulgent and repetitive towards the end. "
— Amanda, 5/16/2011 -
" This is a beautiful story told in beautiful language. "
— Nancy, 5/13/2011 -
" I'm not a Didion fan in general, but I found this book impossible to put down. "
— Naomi, 5/13/2011 -
" Read everything by Joan Didion beginning my Junior year of undergrad. She is my soul-mate. Her prose and perspective make me glad to be alive. "
— Vivcon, 5/12/2011 -
" People think so highly of this book, I wonder if I just didn't <em>get<i/> it somehow. It seemed self-involved and self-indulgent, and what, may I ask, is the reader supposed to get out of it? </em> "
— Patricia, 5/11/2011 -
" I found it so hard to connect with such a profound grief. <br/>I've never experienced such termoil - it's pacified and unnerving. "
— Chloe, 5/10/2011 -
" Incredibly depressing, but very powerful. I mean, that pretty much sums up Joan Didion in general, but this book was something special. I'd recommend it to anyone who has experienced loss. "
— Holly, 5/10/2011 -
" Very tragic and touching. I probably should have waited a bit to read it as I just lost my Dad a few months ago, and as a result I had to set it aside a few times and it took me awhile to get through. It was a really good look at grief, and quite helpful. "
— Stephanie, 5/5/2011 -
" You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Very tough to read, and I am sure, very tough to write. This book made me think about my own mortality and that of my family and friends. Joan made it through! "
— Erica, 5/4/2011 -
" "Was it only by dreaming or writing that I could find out what I thought?" "
— Marion, 5/3/2011
About Joan Didion
Joan Didion (1934-2021) was a New York Times bestselling author whose many books include The Year of Magical Thinking, winner of the National Book Award. She graduated from the University of California at Berkley and moved to New York after winning a contest at Vogue. Her first novel, Run River, was published to much acclaim in 1963. Her first nonfiction work was Slouching towards Bethlehem, which Alfred Kazin called “some of the best prose written today in this country.”
About Barbara Caruso
Barbara Caruso, winner of numerous Earphones Awards for narration, is an accomplished actress. A graduate of London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she was a featured player in the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has played starring roles on Broadway and in theaters across the country. She won the Alexander Scourby Reader of the Year Award for her performances of young adult fiction and has more than one hundred audiobook narrations to her credit.