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Some dreamers of the golden dream

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"A good deal about California does not, on its own preferred terms, add up." This sentence, which opens Didion's third chapter in Where I Was From, is characteristic of the sort of pummeling understatement and reserve that characterizes all of Didion's work - humble, free of ostentation, profound in implication. No, the California Didion presents does not add up - a place defined by a jettisoning pioneer spirit "destroyed" by its own sense of development, a place defined equally by class as it is by people who say sentences like "we don't discuss class here," a place , Didion's Sacramento specifically, both defined by and existing in spite of its geography. Her contradictions of place and identity take Didion from one heavily scrutinized example to another - the Spur Posse, Boeing, Douglas, pioneers on the Sierra Nevadas, prisons, insane asylums - and if Didion's argument of conflicted identity doesn't always connect in thinking later about her specifics, the reading is as fluid, as full-bodied in argument and fact, as merciless an investigation as anything she's ever written. Didion has long been defined by her identity to California, something that comes up in all of her writings, whether in New York or El Salvador, so to see her tackle it so specifically - at one point even deconstructing (with fascinating effect) her own first novel, Run River - is a thrill. What will be of most fascination, undoubtedly, will be the 4th section of the book, the short, devastating section detailing the death of Didion's mother, yet what makes this piece so compelling is the grand scale of Didion's research and work - her California becomes a grand exercise in characterization. Her description in this section is some of the most agonizingly evoked, rich, and understated work of her career, and if the sections preceding it - highly descriptive, full of research often much fuller and drier than expected - can seem aimless when thinking about them, the finest compliment I can give Where I Was From is that, in the effortless and moving reading of the book, it evokes exactly what Didion wants of California, of her, and of her mother, and no more.

Great-Great-Great-Great-Great

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This book of essays by Joan Didion, entitled "Where I Was From," gained my attention from the start, and later also gained my respect. Loved all the detail, the overlapping, the apparent extensive amount of research--the compulsive force of it all. Much like one of her ancester, the one who stitched (and over-stitched) the quilt amidst all the turmoil while crossing the Sierra Nevada. Didion writes with an intensity of meaning, her prose also seems to have a rhythm behind all the words. In my opinion, she truly is a masterful writer, who seems to allude towards a type of idealism; a discourse on the way California could or should be but is not. Then there is the deadpan prose, the insight with an edge, which adds to the overall context of her subject. Her perception in this book is exceptional; this women truly is an artist. (And as an artist, she is not a historian, nor an anthropologist or scientist). The insight she provides here in this book on her native California, its past and fairly recent history, had an affect on me personally like no other writing on the subject. She incorporates writers from the past, such as Jack London and Frank Norris (among others), along with more recent writers such as Jane Hollister, with Poets, Politicians, Bohemians, Artists, Farmers, Professors, and the Spur Posse, the motel people, the "fake" middle class.... in order to paint a picture of California and its history, with its changing ideals, while alluding to the ambiquity, to the role of the Federal Government and Aerospace industry, to the elusive ideas and dreams of its people, to the physical beauty, and overall to the allure of the place. This is not, in my opinion, a negative account of California, there is more truth than negativity in this book.

Enjoyed the book....but one passage bugged me about Yosemite Indians.

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I always enjoy reading Joan Didion, but this observation about Thomas Kinkade kinda bugged me: "This "Kinkade Glow" could be seen as derived in spirit from the "lustrous, pearly mist" that Mark Twain had derided in the Bierstadt paintings, and, the level of execution to one side, there are certain unsettling simi­larities between the two painters. "After completing my recent plein air study of Yosemite Valley, the mountains' majesty refused to leave me," Kinkade wrote in June 2000 on his web site. "When my family wandered through the national park visitor center, I discovered a key to my fan­tasy-a recreation of a Miwok Indian Village. When I returned to my studio, I began work on The Mountains Declare His Glory, a poetic expression of what I felt at that transforming moment of inspiration. As a final touch, I even added a Miwok Indian Camp along the river as an affirmation that man has his place, even in a setting touched by God's glory." Affirming that man has his place in the Sierra Nevada by reproducing the Yosemite National Park Visitor Cen­ter's recreation of a Miwok Indian Village is identifiable as a doubtful enterprise on many levels (not the least of which being that the Yosemite Miwok were forcibly run onto a reservation near Fresno during the Gold Rush...." Sorry, but the original Indians of Yosemite were actually Paiutes and not Miwoks. It is one of those big injustices in the world. You see the Miwoks were the ones who were the scouts and guides for the Mariposa Battalion who ran down and captured the original Yosemite Indians. Those were Mono Paiutes. [...] You can see by reading this book by Bunnell. It is very great book. But I always enjoy reading Joan's work.

Why are you so mean, Joan?

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So much of this book was just a cut and paste from her previous articles. The Lakewood scandal was already covered by her in 1995's New Yorker Magazine. She has page long quotes from her previous novels "Run River"...which were good; but "Where I Was From" was supposed to be all new material. She skewers much of California life and society. Unfortunately the people she picks on are the least worthy. Little Leaguers, middle-class, fans of Thomas Kincade.... In a book about California, why didn't she go after the show biz industry, or Politicians......they are the one making the big bucks....not suburbia. She is a good writer, and I'd read more of her....but not too soon. She comes off as angry, and she isn't someone you want to spend everyday with. Hers is the kind of writing that is good for every now and then. In all fairness, maybe with her latest "The Year Of Magical Thinking" .......she's not so angry. But this one is very insulting, and feels very phoned-in what with all the pages and pages of endless quotes from other/old material.

Forced conclusions, negative predictions

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In her section about Lakewood, the author tries to create a connection between Lakewood, the spur posse, and the military-industrial complex that does not exist. She regards Lakewood as a breeder town, built to supply human labor for the aerospace industry. Here are the facts: 1. Lakewood was created in 1948 by real estate investors to provide housing for returning WW2 veterans. 2. The LB Naval Shipyard, Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, Northrop, and North American Aviation were all in operation long before Lakewood was built. 3. The spur posse was given way too much publicity by the tabloid TV vultures to a National audience. I emphasize the word National. The market for those kind of unhealty tv shows goes beyond southern Calif. Lakewood home values are very good, and the neighborhood infrasturcture is a lot more organized than most southern Calif housing projects built in the same era. If she wants to bash a southern Calif. neighborhood, Long Beach would be an easier target. There, you have many nice one-home lots that were destroyed by investors who built 8-unit apartments on a one-home lot. Anyone who has not actually lived in Lakewood might believe her essay...but it is not reality. In the end, she thinks So. Calif is headed over the cliff. I would say the idyllic "Calif. Golden Fantasy" is no more...but whatever changes that occur here will have to be dealt with in a positive manner, instead of just being given an obituary.