227 pages
English language
Published Dec. 19, 1997 by Vintage Books.
The Last Thing He Wanted is a novel by Joan Didion. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1996. The story centers on Elena McMahon, a reporter for The Washington Post who quits her job covering the 1984 United States presidential election to care for her father after her mother's death. In an unusual turn of events, she inherits his position as an arms dealer for the U.S. Government in Central America. In this sparsely written, quick-paced narrative, Elena struggles to cope with the spies, American military personnel, and the consequences of her father's errors that are waiting for her on a small island in the Lesser Antilles.
have read is a stretch. x didion. "check that box", uncatalogue the remainder of her oeuvre.
I love Didion's writing style, its vibrancy and efficiency, the way that holds, until the last moment, the reader back. 'The Last Thing He Wanted' is not the best book to explore Didion's writing, but it is certainly interesting
The first two chapters are incredibly written and set the tone for the whole book.
Coincidentally, the last book I read was Absalom, Absalom (re-read actually) and reading Didion after Faulkner is like jumping out of the hot tub and into the pool - so cool and clear.
But there's a relation too - water - just like Faulkner tells the whole story in the first chapter, Didion gives away much of what happens up front too. Then she doesn't just go back once and tell what led up to it, but like Quentin Compson she keeps going around finding new tangents and angles, struggling with two things - what happened and how to tell what happened.
This book is about a sleazy arms deal in the Reagan years gone wrong and touches on a lot of the diplomatic hi-jinx the US was involved in the cold war years. The …
The first two chapters are incredibly written and set the tone for the whole book.
Coincidentally, the last book I read was Absalom, Absalom (re-read actually) and reading Didion after Faulkner is like jumping out of the hot tub and into the pool - so cool and clear.
But there's a relation too - water - just like Faulkner tells the whole story in the first chapter, Didion gives away much of what happens up front too. Then she doesn't just go back once and tell what led up to it, but like Quentin Compson she keeps going around finding new tangents and angles, struggling with two things - what happened and how to tell what happened.
This book is about a sleazy arms deal in the Reagan years gone wrong and touches on a lot of the diplomatic hi-jinx the US was involved in the cold war years. The State department lingo and style is a perfect vehicle for Didion's shockingly clear, elegant prose.
