Stephanie S. reviewed on 6/22/2017 + 168 more book reviews

To say I enjoyed this book would be wrong, because the subject matter is so shattering--the unexpected death of a spouse after 40 years together. But it was so moving and beautifully written, that I could not put it down.

This book chronicles only the first year following her widowhood. How she felt submerged and confused about the simplest things. How the details of what happen fade so quickly and cannot be recalled with certainty, no matter how many attempts you make to relive them. How her home is the same as it was, and yet so different. How she is alone now, now and forever, but yet he is always there, in her thoughts, her decisions, her grief. This book was sad, of course, but also uplifting, because Didion concludes, as we the survivors all must, thatlife will go on. The world will still turn. It's just different now.

Didion's husband died right exactly while they as parents were consumed with worry over their grown daughter, who was hospitalized and in a coma with a virulent infection. She had to then gather everything she had to get through that ordeal alone. A truly gifted writer, she portrayed honestly, sometimes angrily, always compassionately, about what life handed her that year. I

*** 1/2 Three and a half stars!

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