Expository Writing

Angela Rosález

April 19, 1999

The White Album Review

Didion, Joan. The White Album. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster,

Joan Didion’s The White Album left me with a rather ambiguous feeling about her writing. I thoroughly enjoyed several sections of her essays, but as a whole was not overly impressed by this collection. It was interesting because it was about an era in her life that included a great deal of searching. Didion was searching for the meaning in and the explanation of several of life’s most difficult questions: How much can I trust what others tell me that they see? And, how much can I trust what I tell myself? It was unfortunate that I did not enjoy the style in which she went on this search.

Through trying to find the answers to these questions, she encounters a great many of interesting people to help her come to some sort of understanding. I do not believe that she ever finds an answer, as I am sure that no one else ever will either. But I do believe that it is through the search that we actually find several other answers. Several people that she meets include Jim Morrison and the Doors, Huey P. Newton, Janis Joplin,Eldridge Cleaver, Linda Kasabian, Gary Fleischman, and many other intriguing individuals. I also think that through her searching she found herself to be just as interesting as many of the ‘famous’ people she had encountered, if not more so.

Didion’s style was what dissapointed me the most. Of her stories, it seemed that only a few truly interested me. I found her insights to be more interesting than the stories that led her to those tidbits of reflection and wisdom. There were often times when, after reading several pages of boring babble, I was finally given the satisfaction of knowing that there was indeed a point to it all.

Another problem that I had with this collection of essays was Didion’s descriptions. Though her descriptions were often interesting, with the details creating concrete images in the mind, I did have trouble understanding why she chose to describe some of the things that she did. There were many times when an image was set in my head, only to find that it had no significance in the point of the story.

It was when the description and the insight coincided that I found her essays most enjoyable. It may take a bit of searching to decide which of The White Album’s collection fit this criteria. Joan Didion says in the very first sentence of the book that ‘we tell ourselves stories in order to live.’ I suppose that in telling stories, not everyone will enjoy what you have to say, but, despite this, you have to continue telling them. I do believe that Joan Didion has a talent, but that it takes a certain taste in reader’s to thoroughly enjoy this book.