Didion's book The Year of Magical Thinking is gripping in its meaning, pain, essence.
Didion's sentences are so lovely, in the midst of having lost her husband and only child very quickly. This is not a book I could read in one sitting, although I wanted to, it's a book one savors. I would not wish upon another human being what Joan Didion experienced. It happens, it is life, but how to make meaning of such a life is a brutal task, and this book is a memoir of that time. You'll enjoy it because of her writing. You will view your own life differently after reading it.