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Critical Praise

"Her book is thrilling . . . a living, sharp, memorable book . . . An exact, candid, and penetrating account of personal terror and bereavement . . . sometimes quite funny because it dares to tell the truth."

—Robert Pinsky, The New York Times Book Review (cover)

"An act of consummate literary bravery, a writer known for her clarity allowing us to watch her mind as it becomes clouded with grief . . . It also skips backward in time [to] call up a shimmering portrait of her unique marriage . . . To make her grief real, Didion shows us what she has lost."

—Lev Grossman, Time

"I can't think of a book we need more than hers . . . I can't imagine dying without this book."

—John Leonard, New York Review of Books

"Achingly beautiful . . . We have come to admire and love Didion for her preternatural poise, unrivaled eye for absurdity, and Orwellian distaste for cant. It is thus a difficult, moving, and extraordinarily poignant experience to watch her direct such scrutiny inward."

—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Los Angeles Times

"Stunning candor and piercing details . . . An indelible portrait of loss and grief . . . [A] haunting portrait of a four-decade-long marriage."

—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times