A well-written, searingly open and honest memoir from Cory Leadbeater, remembering his time working as a personal assistant to Joan Didion and the unstinting support she gave him. It’s not a book about Joan Didion, which some reviewers have unfairly, in my opinion, criticised the book for, but the story of a troubled young man and aspiring writer trying to make his way in the world whilst battling with his demons and his traumatic past. I found it compelling reading.

This is not a biography of Joan Didion but then it doesn’t purport to be. It’s a memoir by Cory Leadbetter who worked for Ms Didion and therefore she appears a lot. The book shows the great writer through Mr Leadbetter’s eyes and I liked that. I liked that it’s his experience with Ms Didion and she comes across as caring, gentle, inclusive, and I’d love to have worked for her.

The author has had an interesting life with several traumatic experiences but his luck changed when he made friends with James Fenton ~ another brilliant writer ~ who told him about a well known writer who needed an assistant. The job was secret until the person met with Mr Leadbetter and he wasn’t told who it was until he met her. What an opportunity!

The book rambled a bit and was repetitive in places but I enjoyed reading it and would enjoy having a coffee and a sit down to hear some more stories about the great John Didion.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley

In his early twenties, aspiring novelist Cory Leadbeater landed a job as a personal assistant to the renowned but anonymous writer Joan Didion. Immersed in Didion’s intellectual world, Cory enjoyed a rarefied experience, from reciting poetry and dining with Supreme Court justices to sharing quiet moments over a cigarette.

Yet beneath this glittering surface, Cory struggled with deep personal issues: the grief from a close friend’s death, his father’s incarceration for fraud, and his battle with addiction and depression. As he wrestled with writing his novel and sought validation as a writer, Cory’s life became a tumultuous blend of literary privilege and personal pain.

This memoir is a poignant tribute to Joan Didion and a raw, honest exploration of Leadbeater's struggles. In just over 200 pages, Leadbeater captures a spectrum of emotions—laughter, tears, and contemplation. While the book addresses themes of suicide that may be triggering for some, it offers valuable insights into the experience of those grappling with mental health challenges.

http://thesecretbookreview.co.uk

I really wanted to like this but I'm sorry to say it wasn't my cup of tea at all. If you came for the Joan Didion, you'll be very disappointed - instead this is a loosely constructed memoir of the author and seemingly an attempt to finally get his unpublishable books into print. I finished it but it was honestly a slog and the author would have benfitted from waiting another 10 years to publish this.

Cory Leadbeater was championed by the poet, James Fenton, when he was in university. From Fenton, he was connected to the writer, Joan Didion, who needed a companion in her last years and Leadbeater got the job. This is not a tell all expose of the later years of Joan Didion and the writer has to be respected for that. The interest in Didion is so strong that it would have been a much easier book to sell to publishers than the one he ended up writing, which is largely about him.

Brought up in a dysfunctional, toxic family situation in New Jersey, surrounded by people who believed that the best way to evade your problems was to drink or drug them away, when Leadbeater is shoved into the rarefied air of the Upper East Side and the heady world of literature and the arts, he becomes a fractured person. Leaving New Jersey to live with Joan he soon realises that he brings New Jersey with him wherever he goes. A life fraught with tension ensues with Leadbeater toggling between going towards what he wants but unable to leave behind where he came from. Addictions rear their heads and in a life dogged by loss, he struggles to keep his head above water.

This is, at times, a difficult read. Leadbeater pulls no punches in describing his struggles and his seemingly endless capacity for self sabotage, but it is also strangely beautiful in its flaws and deep down, wildly hopeful.

The Uptown Local by Cory Leadbeater is a memoir that encompasses writing and the world of literature as well as dysfunctional family relationships centered around addiction and mental health issues.

Uninteresting nothing-burger of a memoir, written in a flighty long-winded style that sorely needs tightening.