SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM

Enjoying this book it is a selection of various different subjects writings from the writer. If you are interested in American history or just fancy a good interesting read this is a good book for you.

Wise and witty, Didion captures America in the ‘60s, mainly California and New York, in a series of contemplative snapshots. There’s an extended essay on San Francisco hippies - drop-outs whose lives don’t seem quite so Bohemian and care-free from the inside. There’s a Louis Theroux vibe in the way this is handled - non-judgmental and empathetic but somehow casually damning in the process … Other pieces look at old California, how New York lost its appeal, and pen portraits of interesting random characters she meets or sees in pubs or clubs. And there’s a moving visit to Hawaii, and reflections on Pearl Harbour. It’s a mix of state of the nation commentary - though never overdone or preachy - and more pedestrian but always compelling social observation. The eponymous essay, with its title taken from the poem The Second Coming by WB Yeats, is a damning portrait of a nation that to some extent has lost its way. Her other collection, The White Album, covered a wider variety of topics - and overall I probably preferred it to Bethlehem. But these essays are on the whole shorter, and individually arguably more powerful - and together they present a vivid picture of America at a transitional time.

I love her spare but descriptive language. There is such a melancholy to get writing that speaks of a time lost. Beautiful and poignant and elegiac.

This book, and the essays within, bring the sixties to life, not the "Swinging sixties" , but life as it was for most of us, at least as I remember it. Always chasing something just . out of reach . Joan writes with just enough of a cynical ,or maybe an incisive , slant on life , but she certainly hits the point. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The text is a decent size at least, but overall the book is pocket-sized. This really should have been highlighted in the description.

I'm so pleased I read this and now want to hoover up anything by her I can get my hands on. I feel the essays were not only interesting, but I feel indelibly altered over the course of the book. That isn't just empty praise either, I now look at people a little closer and pay more attention to my surroundings.

I bought this to read about JDs trip to San Francisco and Haight Ashbury. The first essay in the book. Her way of writing is quite dry and witty and details the experience eloquently. It's quite interesting that some hippie parents thought nothing of giving their 4 yo peyote!

Working my way steadily through Joan Didion's body of work. An excellent collection of essays. Thank you Joan. That's all.