Blue Nights - By Joan Didion
The second week of the Otis creative writing MFA experiment. Our second week book, "Blue Nights" by Joan Didion, gives the account of the author's life in dealing with the grief over the loss of her adopted daughter, Quintana.
Already, this book is not unlike the Karen Green book of the previous week, with its gloomy cloud over head at a deceased loved one, with anecdotes of seemingly unrelated events, but with the dramatic backbone of the story tying them together.
The experience was interesting, and well written. I had heard of Joan Didion before, but never read any of her work. Her command of language and sense of time and place, and all that technical stuff was "appropriately appropriate" in its "appropriate" little way, as I often times make fun of with many artists of any medium, but she does give an interesting charisma to it and world perspective that I found myself able to empathize with more than initially expected I would.
Though I wouldn't call her the champion that many women probably would, (she seems to be something of a Wonder Woman figure of the young twenty something aged females I share the class with) I did appreciate her atmosphere and communicative devices. I wasn't bored at any part of the book.
Hearing about her life among the wealthy, and hob-nobbing with movie stars and working on big projects, movies and plays, (even mentioning a stint on the film "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" with her daughter, as a young girl, successfully procuring an autograph from the film's star, Paul Newman) I felt an intrigue about that world building up, even if it's one that I don't fantasize or imagine for myself one day. She made it feel casual and accessible.
Her sensibilities as a writer are pretty sharp, and I was able to appreciate the introspective, writer's life discussions about her and her daughter's story. Even though Quintana is not in every single scene, she still serves for me as the "main" character, in how her death is almost literally the opening event of the novel: "Today would be her wedding anniversary" or something to that effect.
It's clear from her descriptions of Quintana, that the girl was her whole world, (as is the case with any mother) and she cherished her deeply. So that character, from the beginning, gets a very certain kind of attention that compels the reader as though she were a main protagonist, though the story is told from the first person perspective of Didion herself.
Too bad no one in the class agreed with me on that point, but whatever.
Boy, it was like, seriously...woah...
They weren't having that. They wanted the book to be about Didion's grief and that's it. That's the story, because that's what gets the most attention with the literal words on the page. Never mind what is causing the grief...the daughter's death. NO ROYCE, IT'S THE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMAN HERSELF! THERE ARE MORE OF US, THAT MAKES US RIGHT!
Aiight then...shit.
Something else that did put a smile on my face was her insistence on a very California themed narrative. She makes a point of mentioning Los Angeles, with its emphasis on the major motion picture industry. She mentions Sacramento, the state capitol, having spent some of her youth there, I believe. And also, Camarillo, near Ventura County, and the old mental hospital that is now a State University.
There's also this great little reference to the Topanga-Los Virgenes fire department, stating what to do when there's a fire, (not "if" there's a fire, but "when") because that area is up in the mountains and famously dry.
Here's the thing, as a California native my whole life, I've actually been to all of those places and appreciate the shout out, as each one has a little part of my life.
I went to elementary school in Topanga canyon.
I attended California State University Channel Islands, the school that they built from the old mental hospital, for 2 years right after High School.
Then I transferred to California State University, Sacramento for the last 3 years of college, (took me 5 years total to graduate)
Then moved back to my home in Los Angeles (Burbank, specifically), spending years trying to get work here and there, and even having a brief stint working art department gigs on low budget movie sets.
Look at that. Me and Joan Didion might be fated for each other after all. We're connected. Take that, little twenty something white girls in my class.
One last note of awesomeness, she mentions the Eagle's song "Hotel California" and how there is a legend that says the song may have been inspired by the Camarillo hospital which was converted into the school I attended. If that is true, then that is the only point of school pride I've ever felt at having attended there. Hell yeah...
Relax, said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave...
Already, this book is not unlike the Karen Green book of the previous week, with its gloomy cloud over head at a deceased loved one, with anecdotes of seemingly unrelated events, but with the dramatic backbone of the story tying them together.The experience was interesting, and well written. I had heard of Joan Didion before, but never read any of her work. Her command of language and sense of time and place, and all that technical stuff was "appropriately appropriate" in its "appropriate" little way, as I often times make fun of with many artists of any medium, but she does give an interesting charisma to it and world perspective that I found myself able to empathize with more than initially expected I would.
Though I wouldn't call her the champion that many women probably would, (she seems to be something of a Wonder Woman figure of the young twenty something aged females I share the class with) I did appreciate her atmosphere and communicative devices. I wasn't bored at any part of the book.
Hearing about her life among the wealthy, and hob-nobbing with movie stars and working on big projects, movies and plays, (even mentioning a stint on the film "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" with her daughter, as a young girl, successfully procuring an autograph from the film's star, Paul Newman) I felt an intrigue about that world building up, even if it's one that I don't fantasize or imagine for myself one day. She made it feel casual and accessible.
Her sensibilities as a writer are pretty sharp, and I was able to appreciate the introspective, writer's life discussions about her and her daughter's story. Even though Quintana is not in every single scene, she still serves for me as the "main" character, in how her death is almost literally the opening event of the novel: "Today would be her wedding anniversary" or something to that effect.
It's clear from her descriptions of Quintana, that the girl was her whole world, (as is the case with any mother) and she cherished her deeply. So that character, from the beginning, gets a very certain kind of attention that compels the reader as though she were a main protagonist, though the story is told from the first person perspective of Didion herself.
Too bad no one in the class agreed with me on that point, but whatever.
Boy, it was like, seriously...woah...
They weren't having that. They wanted the book to be about Didion's grief and that's it. That's the story, because that's what gets the most attention with the literal words on the page. Never mind what is causing the grief...the daughter's death. NO ROYCE, IT'S THE STRUGGLE OF THE WOMAN HERSELF! THERE ARE MORE OF US, THAT MAKES US RIGHT!
Aiight then...shit.
Something else that did put a smile on my face was her insistence on a very California themed narrative. She makes a point of mentioning Los Angeles, with its emphasis on the major motion picture industry. She mentions Sacramento, the state capitol, having spent some of her youth there, I believe. And also, Camarillo, near Ventura County, and the old mental hospital that is now a State University.
There's also this great little reference to the Topanga-Los Virgenes fire department, stating what to do when there's a fire, (not "if" there's a fire, but "when") because that area is up in the mountains and famously dry.
Here's the thing, as a California native my whole life, I've actually been to all of those places and appreciate the shout out, as each one has a little part of my life.
I went to elementary school in Topanga canyon.
I attended California State University Channel Islands, the school that they built from the old mental hospital, for 2 years right after High School.
Then I transferred to California State University, Sacramento for the last 3 years of college, (took me 5 years total to graduate)
Then moved back to my home in Los Angeles (Burbank, specifically), spending years trying to get work here and there, and even having a brief stint working art department gigs on low budget movie sets.
Look at that. Me and Joan Didion might be fated for each other after all. We're connected. Take that, little twenty something white girls in my class.
One last note of awesomeness, she mentions the Eagle's song "Hotel California" and how there is a legend that says the song may have been inspired by the Camarillo hospital which was converted into the school I attended. If that is true, then that is the only point of school pride I've ever felt at having attended there. Hell yeah...
Relax, said the night man
We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave...
