Slouching Towards Bethlehem
By Joan Didion

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a collection of essays, many of which are justifiably famous, by Joan Didion, oft considered the greatest essayist writing today. Generally that’s how the book is sold and, truthfully speaking, the pieces here give support to the claims. Since most of the essays were written to capture timely events thirty odd years ago the occurrences are dated, so the big reason to pick up Slouching Towards Bethlehem is its reputation and Didion’s skill.

Didion writes like Ernest Hemingway, another renowned essayist, her sentences simple and perfect. While Slouching Towards Bethlehem didn’t stylistically knock me flat the way Moveable Feast did, it’s both a joyful and instructional read. As an unprofessional writer I appreciate the incredible skill that goes into crafting each and every line Didion writes. As a reader, I appreciate the clarity and magnetism of each essay.

Yet, despite my marveling at Didion’s work, I never really engaged with the book fully. I enjoyed it, am glad I read it, and would recommend it freely, but it was always separate to me, never a part of me the way, to return to a previous comparison, Moveable Feast was. I cannot identify with Didion. There’s something about her which keeps the book out of reach.

Thematically we’re simpatico. Much of Slouching Towards Bethlehem deals with the failing of the American Dream. The question of what you do when life doesn’t turn out as Madison Avenue promised has long fascinated me. Do you keep buying in, more and more desperately (“Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”)? Do you try a different path (“Where The Kissing Never Stops”)? Do you drop out entirely (“Slouching Towards Bethlehem”)? What happens when you realize the central tenet to society as you know it is at best unsustainable, at worst a total sham?

Didion doesn’t provide any answers to these questions – in fact she really can’t since the answer is unique to each individual, dependent on personal strategies to deal with the unwinding knots. What Didion does do is give several snapshots of people in the process of making their decisions, proving everyone is fascinating in their own methods.

[Buy It.]