The Last Love Song
A Biography of Joan Didion
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4.6 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The first printed biography of Joan Didion, the distinguished American author and journalist, delving deep into her iconic life and work.
In The Last Love Song, Tracy Daugherty, the critically acclaimed author of Hiding Man (a New Yorker and New York Times Notable book) and Just One Catch, presents a mesmerizing account of the life of Joan Didion, the revered writer known for her unique literary style in both fiction and nonfiction.
Didion lived a public and private life with her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, whom she met while working in New York City. They became a powerhouse writing duo when they moved to Los Angeles and collaborated on screenplays and adaptations.
Tracing Didion's life from her early days in Sacramento to her later years as a literary icon, Daugherty interviewed numerous friends and colleagues while maintaining a respectful distance from his reclusive subject. The result is an intimate portrait that reads like fiction, offering a fascinating glimpse into the mind and work of a true American original.
With notable works like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Run River, and the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion left an indelible mark on American literature. Both lifelong fans and new readers will be captivated by this impressive tribute to her remarkable life and career.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Daugherty, author of the Donald Barthelme biography Hiding Man, offers a monumental, novelistic examination of Joan Didion's life and career. The book's impressively detailed attention to place, beginning with Didion's California origins, grounds Didion's development as both a fiction writer and a journalist who served as "our keenest observer of the chaos" of the 1960s and beyond. At times, Daugherty tries too hard to mimic Didion's own famously cool and elliptical style, as in the passages about her time in Hollywood, but he settles into confident, engrossing prose when focusing on Didion's literary achievements, from the prematurely world-weary early novels and the groundbreaking essays that cemented her fame to the "extremely political, icily angry" mature works and the heartbreaking late memoirs The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights. Taking a loyal, often protective tone toward his (physically) "famously frail" subject, Daugherty crafts a complex, intricately shaded portrait of a woman also known for her inner toughness and intellectual rigor. This landmark work renders a nuanced analysis of a literary life, lauds Didion's indelible contributions to American literature and journalism (especially New Journalism), and documents a "style has become the music of our time." 8-page b&w photo insert.
