Joan Didion On Keeping A Notebook

Reading this essay made me realize that if my mind was like a notebook with detailed events, maybe I could be able to go back to the past in change the mistakes I've made in the past. I would also be able to remember small details that people tend to forget. For example, "It all comes back. Even that recipe for sauerkraut: even that brings is back." At the end of the story, Didion remembers the recipe that she had forgotten.

 

I can feel a connection to Didion because when I was younger I used to keep a journal. I used to write things from silly sayings, to serious thoughts that were in my head, to details about many different things. Although I no longer write in a journal, I still feel a connection with Didion since we both had a detailed notebook during our lives.

Didion greatly strengthens her work by leaving many unanswered questions. This strengthens her work in many different ways. One way is that it allows for the reader to use their imagination and come up with some answers of their own. This allows the ready to kind of continue on with the story in their own imaginative way. Another way it strengthens her work is that it makes the reader curious about what will happen next. That is a strength because it causes the reader to really think deep down about the story.