the last thing he wanted book review

where can you go? When reading a book of conspiracy and intrigue, I do expect things to be unclear, but here the narrator is unidentified; we never know how she came by the information she is imparting. Brit Bennett. On first reading, I went too fast, letting myself get pulled along by the rhythmic riptide of the prose. This is t. Re-read. Anyway, it is a very quick moving story, and the elliptical structure works to keep one involved. HISTORICAL FICTION You have entered an incorrect email address! Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Book Review: The Last Thing He Wanted by Joan Didion. Now we don’t have any. Jojo Moyes Joan Didion Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. In her first novel in twelve years, the legendary author of. Orange Prize Nominee for Fiction Longlist (1997). I also felt I gained some insight into the US intervention into Central American crises and how the CIA and other agencies are used surreptitiously to affect change desired by the US govt. 'The 8 Stories for Businesses and Professionals' by Michael Burns teaches business people how to present their company, their products. I read this specifically because of the Netflix movie. It calls up Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, the book's 50-year-old antecedent. Along with several other women (including one black woman, Sophia, whose employment causes controversy in a town that doesn’t believe black and white people should be allowed to use the same library), Margery and Alice supply magazines, Bible stories, and copies of books like Little Women to the largely poor residents who live in remote areas. How there are no easily identifiable good or bad characters. She’s just about to resign herself to a life of boredom when an opportunity presents itself in the form of a traveling horseback library—an initiative from Eleanor Roosevelt meant to counteract the devastating effects of the Depression by focusing on literacy and learning. An imagined investigation into the Iran-Contra scandal, a take that doesn't directly involve the players who normally come to mind. This is as accomplished as any of Joan Didion's novels and one of the finest political thrillers (among many other things) I've encountered. Whatever writing devices are used to create mystery, suspense and anticipation - all the things that keep you turning the page, in other words - the reward in the end cannot come down to the ‘aesthetics’ of the writing alone. Now we don’t have any. The crux of what went on in this book could have fit in a 15 page short story. At some point, the reader needs answers, and logic. I’m excited to watch the new film adaptation and hope to get a little more clarity. I read this specifically because of the Netflix movie. The foundations—what MSNBC people call “norms”—are being stripped away like copper from the innards of a palatial yacht. Here we have another Durasian novella from Joan—I simply can’t imagine how much Didion would detest Duras if she actually read her! All Rights Reserved. Elena McMahon, the sleepwalking heroine, wanders into international intrigue in the last days of the … Pre-publication book reviews and features keeping readers and industry It's as if she doesn't really care about the story, even though she's spent 10 years researching it, and in the end, the reader doesn't really care either. It discombobulated me a bit more than I could quite keep up with though. The scene in which Stella adopts her White persona is a tour de force of doubling and confusion. This fragmentary, reflexive exercise in fiction is full of annoying narrative gestures—repetitions, self-criticisms—that distract from a plot worthy of a conspiracy-obsessed age. All this is expertly paced, unfurling before the book is half finished; a reader can guess what is coming. I admired this on my first reading, but I also under-rated it. The story centers around Elena McMahon, a reporter for the Washington Post who quits her job covering the 1984 United States presidential election to care for her father after her mother’s death. | I love Didion's nonfiction, this was the first novel I've read by her. The arms dealing is fairly easy to grasp if you are aware of the history the book is based on, but the weirdness of the main character having to stay in Central America is like.... what. It’s one that you could easily read in a day or two if you were so inclined. LITERARY FICTION is further proof that she's a better journalist than novelist. There is just the world, the people in it, their actions and the consequences of them. A love letter to the power of books and friendship. Refresh and try again. Major Characters: Elena McMahon, Treat Morrison, Richard McMahon. I also felt I gained some insight into the US intervention into Central American crises and how the CIA and other agencies are used surreptitiously to affect change desired by the US govt. By the age of 30 She was a mother of two and an associate director at that engineering firm which at the time had its headquarters in Australia. It's sad that an author of Didion's weight and power hasn't written a novel since this one ... 24 years is a long time to wait for another!! But t. Lance Cleland (Captain): A friend who knows my literary predilections recommended a spy novel earlier this month. But guess what: now it’s the language of Ronald Reagan’s hacky hides killers. Well-written but Little else to recommend it unless you're still upset about Iran-Contra, in this case, you are the choir to whom this book preaches. Joan Didion has a unique style of writing. The Last Thing He Wanted (1996) is a roundabout novel of Central American intrigue, secret government lethality, and a strong, deep woman of integrity relying upon, attempting to rescue, betrayed and led astray by weak, shallow, amoral or marked-for-death men. There's not a lot of suspense here in that it's fairly well given who diez and who does not, although the exact manner is left for the actual moment of termination. As for the conspiracy stuff surrounding a thinly disguised versión of Iran-Contra, there's nothing new about shadowy figures moving arms around to support groups in which governments have an interest, and vag. We’re glad you found a book that interests you! As for the conspiracy stuff surrounding a thinly disguised versión of Iran-Contra, there's nothing new about shadowy figures moving arms around to support groups in which governments have an interest, and vaguely linking these shadowy figures to Dallas 1963 and Kennedy is hardly new ground either. From there, a tedium sets in.

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