Publication: The New York Review of Books March 9, 2017

I've never read Didion. Not by a conscious choice - I think I just never got interested enough and the few times I had thought of trying her work, something interfered. On the other hand I had read a few articles about her so I am somewhat familiar with her style and life. And yet, I was not sure what to expect from this essay. It is technically not a review of a book but it discussed "South and West" to make its point about the diametrical difference between the west states and the deep south.

On the surface it is an essay about Didion's trip to the South in the summer of 1970. But the more you read, the more you see how the gap not only had never closed, it had become bigger and the expectation that the South will change had been way too optimistic. The South had changed of course but not as fast or as cardinally as expected. And the gap kept growing.

And now I really want to read this book - because if that essay represented it properly, that would mean that a book about events happening 47 years ago is still relevant - and that is not a small feat.