I don’t have any major takeaways from this book, but it’s touching and I enjoyed Didion’s writing (and Barbara Caruso’s narration of the audiobook).
The following quote about faith in one’s “ability to control events” reminded me of Ariel Levy’s memoir The Rules Do Not Apply (review) which to some extent revolves around a more extreme dose of that faith.
One thing I noticed during the course of those weeks at UCLA was that many people I knew, whether in New York or in California or in other places, shared a habit of mind usually credited to the very successful. They believed absolutely in their own management skills. They believed absolutely in the power of the telephone numbers they had at their fingertips, the right doctor, the major donor, the person who could facilitate a favor at State or Justice. The management skills of these people were in fact prodigious. The power of their telephone numbers was in fact unmatched. I had myself for most of my life shared the same core belief in my ability to control events… Yet I had always at some level apprehended… that some events in life would remain beyond my ability to control or manage. Some events would just happen.