I bought this book when my husband was still alive. I remember telling him that I couldn't quite grasp how a woman could fantasize that her dead husband is going to appear one day. I never made it all the way through. It was almost too much for me at the time. I couldn't quite imagine being a widow with a very sick daughter.
Then my husband died in January 2009. When I picked up the book again, I was amazed at how I was identifying with her plight. My husband also died suddenly at home and I had to call the paramedics. And like Didion, I too feel that my husband sensed that he was dying. So some of it did start to make sense to me. But Didion's lack of faith in a hereafter cast a pall over the story. For me, without this belief, death is way too final, way too sad.

I was interested to read her accounts of the ordeal with her daughter especially when Didion had to tell her over and over that her dad had died. My heart broke for them both. But the endless medical details were way too much information for me. How many people, other than medical personnel, need to know all of this?

I finally finished the book and have donated it. I said to myself that never again did I want to suffer with Didion. Too overwhelming. But then I suppose she accomplished her goal. She wanted to show just how unbelievably hard life can be.