The Year of Magical Thinking

Reflections post-reading

The first few pages of this book are full of rich praise: "remarkable", "brave", "powerful, moving, true", etc. So to heap more broad praise on feels obsolete.

Three things stood out to me. First, I haven't read any proper 'literature' for a while. Unless you count the prep I do to teach English Literature A-level. I've read some truly fantastic paranormal fiction (eg Kate Golden's Half City) and some classically pleasing romantasy (eg Devney Perry's Shield of Sparrows), and have for too long been stuck in a loop of reading this same brand of hyperaddictive, page-turning escapism. One might think that reading something more 'proper' would require more mental effort, but I did not find this.

Didion's writing is so spare and uncluttered, or as Andrew O'Hagan wrote, "precise" [sic], that reading is effortless. The unoriginal yet true maxim often strikes me: a good book makes you want to keep reading, whereas a brilliant book makes you want to write, and this falls into that category. I found myself pausing and jotting things down on my notes page as I sat on my packed commuter train, for all the world occupying my own virtual space. Reflection one - thoughtful, "precise".

Second, for all that the book is deeply personal, its focus and forensic attention to detail remain on grief, its processes, its manipulations, its delusions. There is nowhere that things are justified, explained, overly contextualised, or self-rationalised as can be easily done in a memoir (and indeed in the way we talk to ourselves). This restraint is truly admirable, particularly when the topic - bereavement - is so deeply personal. Reflection two - a lesson in how to write about something personal without ego getting in the way.

Third, although the topic is death and grief, a life-affirming subtext came through. Meaning is to be found in small things, the humdrum everyday acts of love and service we share with friends and family. During early motherhood in 2026, a time when acquaintances on social media are backpacking with newborns across New Zealand or sharing reels of toddlers meticulously demonstrating laboriously set up Montessori activities, something is enriching for the soul in The Year of Magical Thinking.