Notes to John by Joan Didion review a writer on the couch
Briefly

The article delves into Joan Didion's exploration of motherhood as an experience of continuous loss through her relationships, particularly with her daughter Quintana. It highlights Didion's fear-driven obsession for her daughter's safety and mental health, reflecting on her literary works that grapple with similar themes. Her intrusive care and guilt are juxtaposed with her daughter's struggles with addiction and mental health, leading Didion to therapy, where she faced difficult choices about love, autonomy, and the unknowable risks of parenting. Ultimately, Didion's writing serves as both a catharsis and an exploration of these complex parent-child dynamics.
Didion survived motherhood's continuous losses by obsessively writing about her fears for her daughter Quintana, capturing the tragic, unresolvable dilemmas of parenting.
In her notes from therapy sessions, Joan Didion confronts the painful balance between protecting her daughter and allowing her independence, sparking a moral dilemma.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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