"As it happened I did not grow up o be the kind of woman who is the heroine in a Western, and although the men I have known have had many virtues and have taken me to live in many places I have come to love, they have never been John Wayne, and they have never taken me to that bend in the river where the cottonwoods grow."
Joan Didion
Slouching Towards Bethlehem
I am convinced that Joan Didion has said the things she has said better than anyone who has ever said them or ever will be able to say them. Her prose was beautiful, her composition spectacular, and her voice incredibly unique.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays by Joan Didion. They range in subject from a murdering housewife to trips to Mexico, from John Wayne to the San Francisco drug culture of the 60's. She approaches all of these subjects with honesty, wit, and insight, and casts them onto paper masterfully.
Most of the pieces are centered around the idea of the 'American Dream,' what it was, where it went, and the lengths that people will go to find it, all the while questioning its existence and, if it ever did exist, whether it was a dream worthy of our desire.
I really liked this book. I thought the essays were masterfully done, and they were arranged in the perfect order in this book. Her prose is unlike any I have ever read before. Its lyrical, almost meandering through her thoughts, and then towards the end of each piece she ties her thoughts together in a way that is always poignant. If you haven't read it you should. I feel like this is one of those books that everyone should read at least once. Especially if you have lived in the west, or have ever contemplated the american dream.
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