Sign in with Facebook
Patrick O'Neil's Reviews > Slouching Towards Bethlehem
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
by
by
Everyone I know who reads a lot or considers themselves writers has told me to read Joan Didion. I always cringe and go the other way when too many people tell me to do the same thing. I’m not sure where, or when, this resistance to Didion started. But it has somehow manifested itself in my psyche.
During my first semester at Antioch University, Rob Roberge, in one of his brilliant seminars, made a few comical references to her. Not her writing, but of Didion, or more precisely the cult of Didion � much to the disapproval of my fellow students � so furthering the hype that I figured I had to finally discover just what all the brouhaha was about.
Didion can write. Her descriptive narratives that make up the chapters in Slouching Towards Bethlehem prove that she can. Yet it is the “her� in her descriptive narratives that I tend to not want to experience. Maybe I’m just too jaded with preconceived ideas, or I’ve set my expectations too high. Whatever the case, I can appreciate the craft � yet find her attitude/ego too much to wade through.
Funny, but this is probably what people say about my writing. Hmmmmmmm.......
During my first semester at Antioch University, Rob Roberge, in one of his brilliant seminars, made a few comical references to her. Not her writing, but of Didion, or more precisely the cult of Didion � much to the disapproval of my fellow students � so furthering the hype that I figured I had to finally discover just what all the brouhaha was about.
Didion can write. Her descriptive narratives that make up the chapters in Slouching Towards Bethlehem prove that she can. Yet it is the “her� in her descriptive narratives that I tend to not want to experience. Maybe I’m just too jaded with preconceived ideas, or I’ve set my expectations too high. Whatever the case, I can appreciate the craft � yet find her attitude/ego too much to wade through.
Funny, but this is probably what people say about my writing. Hmmmmmmm.......
Sign into Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ to see if any of your friends have read
Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
August 28, 2008
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Raymond
(new)
Dec 28, 2012 06:59PM
Yes you are jaded with many preconceived ideas ... and at such an early age too. Perhaps you will grow out of it.
reply
|
flag
Raymond wrote: "Yes you are jaded with many preconceived ideas ... and at such an early age too. Perhaps you will grow out of it." Um... now almost two years later, I just checked, and no, I haven't grown out if it.
Reading "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" now, and may be agreeing with you. For me, she appears a bit cold, like someone I'd feel a little uncomfortable around, wouldn't pour out my soul to. I'm still mid-book, so can't say for sure what I'm feeling or not feeling. But I too question when masses all agree, and point fingers at the individuals in a crowd who don't share the same opinion. I can say the same for many other authors, musicians, artists, loved by most people. Art is an individual taste. We each see things differently.
I can't put my finger on why I'm not a fan. I get the hype, but it isn't for me. She was truly a brilliant writer, so why is it such a slog?
