Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

The first part of this introductory chapter describes the depth of shock the author felt from "the event".

Its been nine months since "the event"—a sudden, massive coronary suffered by her husband John. Their daughter, Quintana, was unconscious in the hospital from pneumonia. Didion wishes, instead of using words to define, explore, and organize meaning, that she could project her memories on a screen in the simultaneous, layered way in which she experiences them.

This first chapter establishes the facts of the author's situation (the death of her husband, her struggle with grief, and the simultaneous illness of her daughter), and establishes her multi-leveled purpose in telling this story. This chapter also sets the stage for the book by its narrative style—free flowing, almost stream of consciousness, from idea to memory to surge of emotion to action...