A Book of Common Prayer

By Joan Didion

A shimmering novel of innocence and evil: the gripping story of two American women in a failing Central American nation, from the bestselling, award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Let Me Tell You What I Mean

"[Didion's] most ambitious project in fiction, and her most successful ... glows with a golden aura of well-wrought classical tragedy.”  —Los Angeles Times Book Review

Grace Strasser-Mendana controls much of Boca Grande's wealth and knows virtually all of its secrets; Charlotte Douglas knows far too little. "Immaculate of history, innocent of politics," Charlotte has come to Boca Grande vaguely and vainly hoping to be reunited with her fugitive daughter. As imagined by Didion, her fate is at once utterly particular and fearfully emblematic of an age of conscienceless authority and unfathomable violence.

A Book of Common Prayer is written with the telegraphic swiftness and microscopic sensitivity that have made Didion one of our most distinguished journalists.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 23, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307787590

Joan Didion

Joan Didion is one of America’s most respected writers, her work constituting some of the greatest portraits of modern-day American culture. Over the four decades of her career, she has produced widely-acclaimed journalistic essays, personal essays, novels, non-fiction, memoir and screenplays. Her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award in 2005.

Reviews for A Book of Common Prayer

[deckla_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Grace, married into the wealthy, corrupt ruling family of a fictional Central American country called Boca Grande, reports on the death of Charlotte, an equally wealthy but younger California woman. Charlotte has had two husbands--the first an untenured brute named Warren, the second a leftist lawyer named Leonard--and numerous lovers, among them Grace's son Geraldo. She also has a daughter involved in revolutionary terrorism, Weather Underground style. Charlotte has come to Boca Grande, a country in more or less perpetual revolution, to escape these realities. One of the arguments in the book is whether revolutions and coups d'état are matters of personalities or social realities. Didion writes short declarative sentences that sometimes carry emotional weight. The title initially attracted me, but I have yet to discern its relation to the book.

[terribooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this book because it was chosen for the DukeReads alumni group. It's not one I would have chosen for myself, but that's why I use other people's ideas, isn't it? I found it difficult going, especially at the start. Didion's habit of repeating sentences and phrases was somewhat irritating, and I kept getting the male characters confused. But by the end I could see the beauty of this story, as the character of Charlotte is revealed through the eyes of the narrator. It seems to move slowly, but then suddenly you realize how much has been happening underneath the conversations and ruminations. This is a book that demands your attention, but has a beauty that makes it deserving.

[dale2in2queens · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"I will be her witness." A modern masterpiece.