This is a powerful memoir of grief, written about the year following Didion's husband's very sudden death, and the ongoing serious illness of their only daughter. Didion tries to understand her experience and responses to these events with research (about her husband, his illness, and grieving), through literature, and by writing.Grief is both universal and personal; whether you get something from this book is likely to depend on your own experience. For me this resonated strongly and was hard to read in places. She writes so well about getting into a loop of irrational thoughts, and about realising only later while looking back how unbalanced she was at times.
