
Notes to John
- Author Joan Didion
- Narrator Julianne Moore
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 22 April 2025
- Run Time 6 hours and 34 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Autobiography: writers, Coping with death and bereavement, Memoirs, Popular philosophy: Meaning of life / finding sense in life, Psychotherapy: couples and families, Sociology: family and relationships.
Flexible Pricing & Rewards For Listening
At xigxag, the more you read, the less you pay* on select audiobook and x-book® titles, as in the table below. Pricing updates automatically in the app and resets one year after your first purchase. And you can always find a selection of brilliant titles available for only {book.integrated.discount}.
*Only the full price titles you buy count toward your personal pricing tier. Full price titles don’t include Listen for Less or other books bought with a voucher or discount code.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
- Over 20
Price p/Title
- $13.95
- $12.95
- $11.95
- $10.95
- $9.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
‘Utterly fascinating' NEW YORK TIMES
'A profound, rich document’ NEW STATESMAN
'An act of intimate storytelling' VOGUE
A recently discovered journal from one of America's most iconic writers, Joan Didion, the author of The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights
In November 1999, Joan Didion began seeing a psychiatrist because, as she wrote to a friend, her family had had 'a rough few years'. She described the sessions in a journal she created for her husband, John Gregory Dunne.
For several months, Didion recorded conversations with the psychiatrist in meticulous detail. The initial sessions focused on alcoholism, adoption, depression, anxiety, guilt, and the heartbreaking complexities of her relationship with her daughter, Quintana. The subjects evolved to include her work, which she was finding difficult to maintain for sustained periods. There were discussions about her own childhood – misunderstandings and lack of communication with her mother and father, her early tendency to anticipate catastrophe – and the question of legacy, or, as she put it, 'what it’s been worth'. The analysis would continue for more than a decade.
Didion’s journal was crafted with the singular intelligence, precision, and elegance that characterize all of her writing. It is an unprecedently intimate account that reveals sides of her that were unknown, but the voice is unmistakably hers – questioning, courageous, and clear in the face of a wrenchingly painful journey.
'An incredibly intimate insight into her relationship with her daughter, depression, and creativity' GUARDIAN
'So moving. I am astonished at the level of recall … They are a record of trying to save a life, and understand her own' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'Sheds intriguing light on the question of Quintana’s part in the family dynamic' OBSERVER
'The literary source for the three great works of Didion's old age' THE INDEPENDENT
'It’s always a pleasure to read Didion’s measured prose' THE STANDARD
'Written with the immediacy of fresh recollection … and with the cool, forensic clarity she was known for' NEW YORKER
'Compulsive … it shows Didion the reporter at work' TELEGRAPH
'An intimate chronicle … Notes to John offers readers a key to Didion's persona and her work' NPR
'Perhaps for the first time, we can hope to see Didion as she saw the world: unwavering and unflinching, straight down the line' AnOTHER
'An unexpected parting gift to biographers and civilian readers' AIRMAIL
'Fascinating … offers insight into her work' iPAPER
'A tour de force from one of the best' PEOPLE
'Notes to John' was a New York Times bestseller w/c 2025-04-28.
Critics Review
n Praise for Notes to John:n
nu2018Utterly fascinating u2026 shares with Blue Nights the subject of mother and daughter, generational trauma and general anxiety, and both are written with Didion's constitutional meticulousnessu2019 The New York Times
n'An incredibly intimate insight into her relationship with her daughter, depression, and creativity' Guardian
nu2018The most direct book Didion wrote u2013 or rather, pointedly didnu2019t write u2026 The quantity of arresting and widely applicable insights makes Notes to John a profound, rich documentu2019 New Statesman
nu2018An act of intimate storytelling u2026 the diehard Didion fans (we know who we are) will feel hypnotized by these pages, not quite sure they should exist as a book, but leveled by the writer who produced them, by her honesty and heartbreaku2019 Vogue
n'Written with the immediacy of fresh recollection u2026 Readers of her memoirs will recognise how these notes inform those final booksu2014the striving to understand and the sense of futility that comes with it' New Yorker
n'Uncomfortable but compulsive reading u2026 shows Didion the reporter at work u2026 what an experience it is, watching Didion beat back tragedy with her brilliant mind, as the hurricane hurtles her familyu2019s way' Telegraph
n'Itu2019s fascinating to see her making connections and presenting evidence of misremembered parts of her past u2026 offers insight into her work' iPaper
n'Offers readers a key to Didion's persona and her work .. Writing was how she processed everything' NPR
n'A tour de force from one of the best' People
n'Offers an unfiltered glimpse into the mind u2026 perhaps for the first time, we can hope to see Didion as she saw the world: unwavering and unflinching, straight down the line' AnOther
n'What emerges is the portrait of a life, or lives, in progress u2026 We get the fuller story, so alive and febrile that it is not a story but instead a reckoning with what one can and can't accept or change' Alta
n'An unexpected parting gift to biographers and civilian readers u2026 direct and personal, shorn of vanity' Airmail
nMore from the same
Narrator
About xigxag
Enjoy the best audiobooks on xigxag, an innovative, user-friendly audiobook platform that makes it easy to find, purchase, and enjoy your favorite books in audio format. xigxag’s flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less – affordable prices and the best audiobook deals with no subscription required. Give the perfect gift with our audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.
xigxag’s commitment to sustainability and ethical practices ensures a guilt-free listening experience from an exceptional digital book platform – an exciting alternative to big tech. Enjoy audiobooks from the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service and a leader in audiobook innovation.
Search effortlessly, read honest audiobook reviews evaluating both the book and the narration, and discover hidden gems. Download or stream top audiobook titles anytime, anywhere and get the best possible listening experience on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Experience the future of audiobooks today.