Our September Book Club Pick is “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion in 2005.
This book is immerses you into Joan’s experience of grief and lost in the first year after the sudden loss of her husband, author John Dunne and simultaneously the hospitalization of her only daughter, Quintana Roo. Sound like a downer?! It’s not! Full of humor & amazing writing — that’s why it’s a fitting read for our September focus on loss & grief.
In this podcast episode we discuss:
– Joan’s courageous exploration of grief
– The way storytelling can highlight the universal nature of grief and instinct to find meaning in loss
– Anecdotes in navigating lost of a spouse
– Why is this story of loss considered “magical thinking”
Learn more about this author, Joan Didion.
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even those few days or weeks. We might expect if the death is sudden to feel shock. We do not expect this shock to be obliterative, dislocating to both body and mind. We might expect that we will be prostrate, inconsolable, crazy with loss. We do not expect to be literally crazy, cool customers who believe their husband is about to return and need his shoes.”
If you haven’t read or listen to it, check out this book: