Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Amazon.ca: Joan Didion: Books

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"In her portraits of people, Didion is not out to expose but to understand, and she shows us actors and millionaires, doomed brides and naive acid-trippers, left wing ideologues and snobs of the Hawaiian aristocracy in a way that makes them neither villainous nor glamorous, but alive and botched and often mournfully beautiful . . . A rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country."--Dan Wakefield, The New York Times Book Review

Book Description

The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, forty years after its first publication, the essential portrait of America— particularly California—in the sixties. It focuses on such subjects as John Wayne and Howard Hughes, growing up a girl in California, ruminating on the nature of good and evil in a Death Valley motel room, and, especially, the essence of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury, the heart of the counterculture.

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THIS IS A STORY about love and death in the golden land, and begins with the country. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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19 Reviews

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4.5 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Still full of life after 50 years, Oct 1 2009

By

J. Tobin Garrett (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Slouching Towards Bethlehem (Paperback)

This is my first leap into the world of Joan Didion, and I have immediately gone out and got her collected non-fiction, which has seven of her books in one giant hard copy. The most amazing thing about this book of essays is that, even though the subjects are long gone, the time period it describes dead and dried over, there is still a sense of liveliness to her work. I found myself pulled into the stories of these peoples lives during the 1960s in California. The first essay, surrounding the criminal case of the woman who burned her husband alive in the car, was both beautifully written and a factual journalistic account of an event.

She has a knack for capturing the personal in a very universal way, which is probably the most sought after talent in an essayist. She includes herself in her journalism, gets involved in her subjects in a way, gives her personal views on subjects, and all of it comes out completely fascinating. I believe her more because I believe her to be honest, in her treatment of her subjects as well as herself.

Didion writes with a subtlety this is also rare in writers of nonfiction. It's difficult, I think, to take true events and compile them in such a way that they mean something outside of the obvious. Some writers bang their themes over their readers heads, afraid, it seems, that they will not understand them if they don't state them overtly. Didion does not of this, if she even worries about things like theme. It's there though: the anxiety, the crumbling at the edges, the loneliness. It comes through, seeps into each word she writes, but is never overbearing.

Her writing is an inspiration, and should be required reading for all those interested in journalism, or being a human being.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars America's finest essayist, at her finest, May 19 2004

By

R. Dixon "rachel612" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Slouching Towards Bethlehem Pb (Paperback)

I have owned several copies of this book, and have given away more copies than I can count. It's a book I come back to, at least once a year since 1980, when I first read it. It seems to me to be better and better each time. The times it's about may be long gone, but the issues at the heart of these essays haven't changed much at all.

Much has been made of Didion's take on California, and this book is laden with essays about the place, and the people, and a particular time that - as other reviewers here have noted - has a different resonance in popular culture than the one she presents here. Didion herself recently professed some alarm at the idea that she is an expert on the place (in 'Where I Was From'), but there's no doubt that she's provided more food for thought about contemporary culture than almost anyone else.

But the real strength of her writing is in her prose style, in which not a single sentence is sloppy, or ill-considered. Her style is distinctive, but it's not just for show. There are other fine essayists working today, but few are as disciplined and considered as Didion in the way they write.

It's probably a toss-up as to whether this book or 'The White Album' is a better place to start with Didion's work. I think 'The White Album' is a more cohesive collection, but there are better individual essays in 'Slouching', including the sublime essays in the 'Personals' section. And chances are that once you've read one, you'll read the other, and in that case it makes sense to start with the earlier collection, which is this one.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, Jan 26 2004

By

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slouching Towards Bethlehem Pb (Paperback)

For anyone who, like me, is an outsider, but is fascinated by Los Angeles and California, this is a must-read. I read it before a recent California trip, and felt my journey was enriched for it.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate
Like a lot of folks I have a fascination with the '60's and the title essay from this collection, a look at the hippie 'scene' in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, is... Read more

Published on July 17 2005 by Randy Bartholemew

5.0 out of 5 stars just call the whole thing great
These simple but strong essays will stick with you forever. Haunting images are everywhere. The first piece about a woman who kills her husband made me think of many uncomfortable... Read more

Published on Dec 27 2003 by JR