Notes to John is a poignant, intimate collection of 46 journal entries Joan Didion wrote as addressed to her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, between 2000 and 2001. Published posthumously, it offers an unvarnished look at Didion’s struggles—especially her grief over the death of her daughter, Quintana, and her attempts to come to terms with both her daughter’s addiction issues and her own loss. These entries, raw and unpolished, were left in a filing cabinet, as though meant to be found, giving them an exposing sense of being private yet exposed.
The mix of first- and second-person perspectives throughout the entries feels less like self-reflection and more like conversations with Dunne, blurring the line between personal journal and letter. For Didion fans, especially those like me who found relatability and solace in her Blue Nights, the book provides a deeper, more candid view of her ongoing reckoning with love, loss, and grief. It’s both a comfort and a violation, a sacred intimacy that can feel selfish to read. Still, it had me hooked and felt like an important read for anyone seeking to understand the heart of Didion’s world. —Jessica Chapel, commerce writer