Notes to John

This intimate posthumous volume brings together notes from the early 2000s that Didion (Let Me Tell You What I Mean) addressed to her husband, John Gregory Dunne, on her sessions with psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon, whom she started seeing at the behest of her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, in an effort to repair their relationship. The dispatches act as a cipher to 2011’s Blue Nights, Didion’s oblique meditation on Quintana’s death in 2005 at age 39, revealing in greater detail Quintana’s struggle with alcoholism and mental illness. According to the notes, MacKinnon encouraged Didion to work through how her own neuroses might be impacting Quintana, such as feeling guilty over having spent so much time working instead of playing with Quintana when she was young. Other recurring topics include the closeness of Didion and Dunne (MacKinnon suggests that the couple’s tendency to sometimes hold back from expressing themselves to protect their professional relationship left Quintana feeling alienated and confused as to what a healthy marriage looked like), and the need for the pair to allow Quintana space to explore her own desires so she could move beyond simply trying to please them. More than mere notes, Didion’s fly-on-the-wall reports recap the therapy sessions word-for-word, offering an unvarnished look into the personal life and psychology of the oft-enigmatic writer. As poignant as it is candid, this is essential reading for Didion devotees. (Apr.)