I really like both the house and garment metaphors for story. I need to think more on those. Also, I've been meaning to read Joan Didion for so long. Thank you for bringing her back up to my attention!
Thank you. The house metaphor relates to the Buddhist verse I quoted, which I often think about. Blue Nights was hard to read as a mother. I wanted to be able to offer Joan Didion some kind of comfort, which may sound silly but really was a part of this reading experience... It was difficult to witness how hard she was on herself at times, how she wanted to take on blame for her daughter's inner struggle.
What do you make of her husband's general absence in the parenting story? It's been a while since I read Blue Nights (and I read it before I became a mother)... but that's one of the lasting memories I have of it... why was JD so hard on herself and where was John Gregory Dunne in all of it?!
Good question... that did not occur to me even once, honestly. I don't know if I was so mesmerized by how Didion told it all or if I just assumed that at the heart of this book was the relationship between mother and daughter, and that the father's relationship was at least somewhat outside of its scope. Then again, I wonder about the place of nannies in their family life. I can't recall any mentions of nannies, but surely they must have played a significant role in Quintana's upbringing.
I really like both the house and garment metaphors for story. I need to think more on those. Also, I've been meaning to read Joan Didion for so long. Thank you for bringing her back up to my attention!
Thank you. The house metaphor relates to the Buddhist verse I quoted, which I often think about. Blue Nights was hard to read as a mother. I wanted to be able to offer Joan Didion some kind of comfort, which may sound silly but really was a part of this reading experience... It was difficult to witness how hard she was on herself at times, how she wanted to take on blame for her daughter's inner struggle.
What do you make of her husband's general absence in the parenting story? It's been a while since I read Blue Nights (and I read it before I became a mother)... but that's one of the lasting memories I have of it... why was JD so hard on herself and where was John Gregory Dunne in all of it?!
Good question... that did not occur to me even once, honestly. I don't know if I was so mesmerized by how Didion told it all or if I just assumed that at the heart of this book was the relationship between mother and daughter, and that the father's relationship was at least somewhat outside of its scope. Then again, I wonder about the place of nannies in their family life. I can't recall any mentions of nannies, but surely they must have played a significant role in Quintana's upbringing.