"In November 1999 Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because as she wrote to a friend
her family had had 'a rough few years.' She described the sessions in a journal she created for
her husband John Gregory Dunne. For several months Didion recorded conversations with the
psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism adoption
depression anxiety guilt and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her
daughter Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work which she was finding difficult to
maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own
childhood--misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father her early
tendency to anticipate catastrophe--and the question of legacy or as she put it 'what it's
been worth.' The analysis would continue for more than a decade. ... [This is] an ... intimate
account that reveals sides of her that were unknown but the voice is unmistakably
hers--questioning courageous and clear in the face of a wrenchingly painful journey"--
