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The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion: A Memoir
A brilliant debut memoir about a young writer—struggling with depression, family issues, and addiction—and his life-changing decade working for Joan Didion.
As an aspiring novelist in his early twenties, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion.
In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but by her generous friendship and mentorship. Together they recited poetry in the mornings, dined with Supreme Court justices, attended art openings, smoked a single cigarette before bed.
But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison, visiting his father as he served time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.
In hypnotic prose that pulses with life and longing, The Uptown Local explores the fault lines of class, family, loss, and creativity. It is a love letter to a cultural icon—and a moving testament to the relationships that sustain us in the eternal pursuit of a life worth living.
As an aspiring novelist in his early twenties, Cory Leadbeater was presented with an opportunity to work for a well-known writer whose identity was kept confidential. Since the tumultuous days of childhood, Cory had sought refuge from the rougher parts of life in the pages of books. Suddenly, he found himself the personal assistant to a titan of literature: Joan Didion.
In the nine years that followed, Cory shared Joan’s rarefied world, transformed not only by her blazing intellect but by her generous friendship and mentorship. Together they recited poetry in the mornings, dined with Supreme Court justices, attended art openings, smoked a single cigarette before bed.
But secretly, Cory was spiraling. He reeled from the death of a close friend. He spent his weekends at a federal prison, visiting his father as he served time for fraud. He struggled day after day to write the novel that would validate him as a real writer. And meanwhile, the forces of addiction and depression loomed large.
In hypnotic prose that pulses with life and longing, The Uptown Local explores the fault lines of class, family, loss, and creativity. It is a love letter to a cultural icon—and a moving testament to the relationships that sustain us in the eternal pursuit of a life worth living.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published June 11, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
July 5, 2024
Uninteresting, nothing-burger of a memoir written in a flighty and long-winded style in dire need of tightening.
June 12, 2024
The Uptown Local: Joy, Death, and Joan Didion.
While there is certainly much more death than there is joy in this memoir, there are glimmers if you are looking. This book is a heart-touching ode to the late, beloved Joan Didion as well as a fiercely honest look at Leadbeater's life. In just over 200 pages, Leadbeater somehow managed to make me laugh, cry, contemplate, reflect, and smile in awe and wonder. Suicide is discussed heavily within these pages which may be triggering to some but for others, I believe that it can bring about a better understanding of someone suffering.
While there is certainly much more death than there is joy in this memoir, there are glimmers if you are looking. This book is a heart-touching ode to the late, beloved Joan Didion as well as a fiercely honest look at Leadbeater's life. In just over 200 pages, Leadbeater somehow managed to make me laugh, cry, contemplate, reflect, and smile in awe and wonder. Suicide is discussed heavily within these pages which may be triggering to some but for others, I believe that it can bring about a better understanding of someone suffering.
May 27, 2024
When I read books like this, I wish I were I writer instead of exclusively a reader. I could write a review that people would read and really understand how I felt as I was reading it. I identified with so much in this book that it makes my chest compress with emotion. I still haven’t found my Joan, my orange tulips. My shoelaces are untied a little more often than I care for.
This is a beautiful, poetic, powerful, personal memoir about real people. It was intrinsically enjoyable and sometimes painfully intrusive to read. Absolutely worth the pain.
This is a beautiful, poetic, powerful, personal memoir about real people. It was intrinsically enjoyable and sometimes painfully intrusive to read. Absolutely worth the pain.
June 28, 2024
GoodReads Giveaway physical book win.
Genre: Memoir (?)
I was confused throughout the book. I still don't know what the author's purpose was or what he wanted to convey.
Two stars -- I feel like the genre memoir is misrepresented as well as sadly (and do hope I'm wrong) Joan Didion.
Genre: Memoir (?)
I was confused throughout the book. I still don't know what the author's purpose was or what he wanted to convey.
Two stars -- I feel like the genre memoir is misrepresented as well as sadly (and do hope I'm wrong) Joan Didion.
June 21, 2024
I'm so annoyed I read this. I kept telling myself it was short, that it would be over soon. It felt interminable. I selected it, of course, hoping for Didion insights. That was naive. By the end, I just found myself desperate to know what her reaction would have been to this memoir.
February 12, 2024
Come for Joan Didion, stay for the searing meditations on life in America. I couldn't put this book down. In fact, I read 90% in one night, woke up still thinking about it, and finished before brushing my teeth. The Uptown Local is a masterful examination of the emotional and material conditions of our time.
July 13, 2024
This was not even remotely what I expected [and I don't mean that in a good way]. I expected a lovely memoir about Joan Didion and the author's time with her and what life was like with her; yeah, no. Not even remotely.
I am not sure what this was supposed to be, but a coherent memoir it is not. This was a jumbled mess [that reads more like an angst-filled journal] that seemed even longer than the book really was [I cannot tell you how many times I looked at my watch, thinking I must be close to being done only to find I still had hours left]; there were so many moments where I wanted to quit [but then was afraid I would miss a really glorious story about Ms. Didion. Spoiler, I did not], scream in frustration and/or throw my book [sometimes all three at once], as there were few Didion insights [it often felt like a name-drop book; yes he worked for her and yes he DOES mention her, but not in any real meaningful way IMO] to make it more enjoyable. I cannot even imagine what she would have thought of this hot mess of a book.
As someone who adores Joan Didion and her writing, this was a huge disappointment.
Thank you to NetGalley, Cory Leadbeater, and Ecco for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I am not sure what this was supposed to be, but a coherent memoir it is not. This was a jumbled mess [that reads more like an angst-filled journal] that seemed even longer than the book really was [I cannot tell you how many times I looked at my watch, thinking I must be close to being done only to find I still had hours left]; there were so many moments where I wanted to quit [but then was afraid I would miss a really glorious story about Ms. Didion. Spoiler, I did not], scream in frustration and/or throw my book [sometimes all three at once], as there were few Didion insights [it often felt like a name-drop book; yes he worked for her and yes he DOES mention her, but not in any real meaningful way IMO] to make it more enjoyable. I cannot even imagine what she would have thought of this hot mess of a book.
As someone who adores Joan Didion and her writing, this was a huge disappointment.
Thank you to NetGalley, Cory Leadbeater, and Ecco for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 3, 2024
Parts of this memoir were stunning - beautifully written and startling in their elegance. But the pacing, storyline, chronology were distracting and could not keep me engaged. And perhaps the memoir focus was too weak after all - though Joan Didion is well known and Leadbeater had difficult times, they were not amazing enough to hold my interest.
March 27, 2024
Cory Leadbeater was Joan Didion’s assistant/companion during the final years of her life. I was somewhat nervous going into the book. While I am not a Didion completist, I did not want to see her exploited by someone she employed and trusted. I had no need to be nervous. The Didion of this book is a gentle, grieving, wise and elderly presence. Cory suffered from personal and familial trauma and his position in Didion’s house was a comforting aspect of his often tumultuous life. This memoir also happens to fall during the years of COVID and the Trump presidency and it was interesting reading about those events from his perspective. I did feel that it was meandering and not always coherent, but overall this will (and should be) a popular memoir about a relationship with an iconic author. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
May 15, 2024
This is an emotionally moving story from Cory Leadbetter about his chaotic life, and that of his friend Joan Didion. Cory accepted a career of being Joan Didions protege, and taking care of her , an esteemed author in her old age. This book is a riveting testimony about their lives together, and the special friendship that develops between them. Full of love and raw emotion, this book is recommended to people of all ages.
March 3, 2024
comes out June 11, 2024. i won this in a Goodreads giveaway. books & reading literary criticism. general books & reading. biographies & memoirs of authors. i often wonder how you can review something like this in ...it wasn't your life, you are reading some1 else's experiences and how they were treat, lived, etc ...so i mean say it has me curious and how it would all happen, etc.
i love the book cover. plain, simple ...floral. our lives and the daily experiences shape us and make us grow ...but it for the good, bad or ugly. LOL!!
i love the book cover. plain, simple ...floral. our lives and the daily experiences shape us and make us grow ...but it for the good, bad or ugly. LOL!!
July 22, 2024
Cory Leadbeater had just applied for a position as a personal assistant to famed author Joan Didion. He didn’t know it would turn into an eight-year friendship that would be life-affirming.
Cory hailed from a lower-middle-class family in Jersey City. His relationship with his father can be aptly described as night and day. There were times when Cory accompanied him to his job and enjoyed every second with him. But then there were days when Cory was the target of his abuse. The relationship between them would leave a lasting impact on Cory’s mindset in the coming years.
Cory’s life consisted of contrasting highs and lows, coupling the great news with the tragic. When he learned about the job with Joan, his father was facing heavy jail time for committing mortgage fraud. Cory’s family was in grave financial peril due to his father’s legal problems. The personal assistant position gave Cory some monetary relief as Joan provided a room in her Manhattan apartment for Cory to stay in along with a decent salary. Their instantaneous rapport cemented his employment and began their friendship.
As a personal assistant, Cory’s duties included putting order into Joan’s chaotic professional and personal life. He also would organize her social calendar and take care of her shopping and meal ordering. Joan was a renowned author of both fiction and nonfiction works and was still sought after for her wit and charm in her golden years. Cory and Joan often would discuss literature and music over a cocktail. Despite these good times, the frustrations of life niggled at Cory and led him to heavy drinking and depression. An obsession with death while denying the best of life nearly consumed him.
Cory had questioned times in his past and whether he was living a real or pretend reality. A character of his own creation began to stalk his waking moments. His inability to reconcile death with life and repair a broken relationship with his dad further brought him to the brink. Yet the loving relationships he had with his future wife, Liz; his mother; Joan; and his friends provided the impetus to keep going.
THE UPTOWN LOCAL is a story not only of friendship but also about a man learning to break free from his past and his inner demons. The crux of this often poignant account takes place during the nearly decade-long period when Cory worked with and befriended Joan Didion. At the beginning of their relationship, he is a burgeoning writer clamoring to share his words with the world. The exasperation that he experiences as a struggling author is palpable with every rejection. Joan becomes an almost surrogate mother to Cory and provides constant encouragement and constructive criticism.
Cory Leadbeater’s prose is evocative of a seasoned scribe. His story is touching but also inspiring as the reader follows his emotional journey of self-discovery. This outstanding memoir merits a large audience.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
Cory hailed from a lower-middle-class family in Jersey City. His relationship with his father can be aptly described as night and day. There were times when Cory accompanied him to his job and enjoyed every second with him. But then there were days when Cory was the target of his abuse. The relationship between them would leave a lasting impact on Cory’s mindset in the coming years.
Cory’s life consisted of contrasting highs and lows, coupling the great news with the tragic. When he learned about the job with Joan, his father was facing heavy jail time for committing mortgage fraud. Cory’s family was in grave financial peril due to his father’s legal problems. The personal assistant position gave Cory some monetary relief as Joan provided a room in her Manhattan apartment for Cory to stay in along with a decent salary. Their instantaneous rapport cemented his employment and began their friendship.
As a personal assistant, Cory’s duties included putting order into Joan’s chaotic professional and personal life. He also would organize her social calendar and take care of her shopping and meal ordering. Joan was a renowned author of both fiction and nonfiction works and was still sought after for her wit and charm in her golden years. Cory and Joan often would discuss literature and music over a cocktail. Despite these good times, the frustrations of life niggled at Cory and led him to heavy drinking and depression. An obsession with death while denying the best of life nearly consumed him.
Cory had questioned times in his past and whether he was living a real or pretend reality. A character of his own creation began to stalk his waking moments. His inability to reconcile death with life and repair a broken relationship with his dad further brought him to the brink. Yet the loving relationships he had with his future wife, Liz; his mother; Joan; and his friends provided the impetus to keep going.
THE UPTOWN LOCAL is a story not only of friendship but also about a man learning to break free from his past and his inner demons. The crux of this often poignant account takes place during the nearly decade-long period when Cory worked with and befriended Joan Didion. At the beginning of their relationship, he is a burgeoning writer clamoring to share his words with the world. The exasperation that he experiences as a struggling author is palpable with every rejection. Joan becomes an almost surrogate mother to Cory and provides constant encouragement and constructive criticism.
Cory Leadbeater’s prose is evocative of a seasoned scribe. His story is touching but also inspiring as the reader follows his emotional journey of self-discovery. This outstanding memoir merits a large audience.
Reviewed by Philip Zozzaro
July 24, 2024
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.
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.
June 17, 2024
Now here's a fucking book. There are a thousand things this book could have been, and the one we got is frankly a miracle. As lucky as Joan was to find Cory and Cory to find Joan, we're lucky that the person closest to her has his own story to tell.
It is also to our great fortune that Cory can't stay inside himself, and this is the piece that makes the book so beautiful: he feels his pain as internal, his narrative voice and persona want to turn inward, the voice and his mind want to spend time on the page, with his characters and his pain and his own narrativization of it, to keep touching the hot poker, but the irresistible part of the book (and his life as described in it) is that he can't. His instincts drag the gaze back outward at every moment. His story is not his own — it is the story of his relationships to others. His chapters are full of people who are not Joan and not him and also not his family. He writes about everyone, Joan and himself too, with the loving clarity and honesty that only a loving and honest person could.
It is not a book about Joan, or Cory, or even depression and death, it is a book about living, which is to say you can fly through 200 pages of The Uptown Local and get *more* than most books pack into twice the heft. That's literature, baby.
It is also to our great fortune that Cory can't stay inside himself, and this is the piece that makes the book so beautiful: he feels his pain as internal, his narrative voice and persona want to turn inward, the voice and his mind want to spend time on the page, with his characters and his pain and his own narrativization of it, to keep touching the hot poker, but the irresistible part of the book (and his life as described in it) is that he can't. His instincts drag the gaze back outward at every moment. His story is not his own — it is the story of his relationships to others. His chapters are full of people who are not Joan and not him and also not his family. He writes about everyone, Joan and himself too, with the loving clarity and honesty that only a loving and honest person could.
It is not a book about Joan, or Cory, or even depression and death, it is a book about living, which is to say you can fly through 200 pages of The Uptown Local and get *more* than most books pack into twice the heft. That's literature, baby.
June 15, 2024
This stunning debut memoir from Cory Leadbeater is so much more than a glimpse into the life of Joan Didion. It is a rich, inventive and highly lyrical examination of life in America, of what it takes to get ahead, of ceaseless grief and overwhelming obsession. However, most spectacular of all, is Leadbeater’s examination of Self and how all these other considerations coalesced and collided in a life that—unimaginably (even for him)— unfolded side-by-side with Didion’s for a decade.
Of course it is also a gorgeous and fitting tribute to Didion’s colossal literary gifts and her extraordinary tenderness, but what makes this a thing of lasting beauty and serious literary importance, is Leadbeater’s own teeming brain and talent.
Didion fans will have many reasons to love it, but this is, just simply, a fantastic book for thinking and feeling people.
Of course it is also a gorgeous and fitting tribute to Didion’s colossal literary gifts and her extraordinary tenderness, but what makes this a thing of lasting beauty and serious literary importance, is Leadbeater’s own teeming brain and talent.
Didion fans will have many reasons to love it, but this is, just simply, a fantastic book for thinking and feeling people.
June 19, 2024
I zipped through this memoir and it’s beautifully written, albeit very hard in parts as the writer struggles with suicidal ideation. It feels unfair of me to say I wish there was more Joan Didion—it is a memoir, after all—but I wish there was more Joan, in that the ending felt a little like the author had a (justifiable) axe to grind about class differences but wasn’t willing to actually grind it because he didn’t feel it with his employer, only some of her friends, and I wish that had been explored in more depth rather than superficially.
July 17, 2024
What a beautiful memoir and tribute to Joan Didion (who is just as wonderful as I imagined). Leadbeater shares Didion's gift for getting at the truth of things and I loved this. I'm happy Didion had Cory in her life at the end, and I'm happy that Cory had Joan. What I think I loved best about this book was how much Didion loved children, and remained optimistic about their future, despite the current state of things. I love how Didion would smile and nod when Cory spoke of his father, and her ability to just be there with others, in knowing wisdom and compassion.
July 19, 2024
The Uptown Local is a memoir written by the man who spent nearly a decade as Author Joan Didion's caretaker, often residing in an apartment within her spacious New York home. Leadbeater writes of his own loneliness, and the influence that Didion had on him as a 'twenty-something' still trying to find his place in life, and struggling with the issues in his own family. Leadbeater's father serves jail time for a crime, and the impact it has on his wife and sons is a challenge for Cory as he tries not to be too disillusioned.
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
April 5, 2024
In a way, I related to Cory while reading this, due to the fact that I felt awkwardly out of place. The names and places were all very unfamiliar to me, which made it hard for me to connect. However, I always find it interesting looking into someone else's life as they voluntarily share their innermost secrets. Cory has experienced many things that I never have or never will. I'm both thankful and envious of that fact.
I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway.
I won this book on a Goodreads Giveaway.
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June 30, 2024The debut of writer Cory Leadbeater intrigued me due to the title & cover, and that it's a memoir. I wasn't disappointed, nor did I go in with any intentions, which may have worked in my favor. Emotional medium paced read.
Thank you to Ecco/Harper Collins for the ARC. It was my pleasure to read this one.
Thank you to Ecco/Harper Collins for the ARC. It was my pleasure to read this one.
February 2, 2024
A memoir of a man who has had many struggles - father in prison, best friend died suddenly and a desire to be a part of a different class of people than his upbringing had prepared him for. Through his struggles he has a very bright light in working with Joan Didion for years.
The writing in this book was so well done - you could tell that Leadbetter agonized over all the word choices in order to find just the most precise word. But I found this book rather depressing. His life has been a dark one and it came through in the book. There was one very enlightening chapter describing the feelings of being suicidal.
Joy, Death and Joan Didion - I just didn't feel much joy while reading this memoir. Death was a prominent theme and not as much on Joan Didion as I would have like to have read. Joan was definitely a mentor and supporter but her influence was just not as in depth as I would have wanted.
The book was a worthwhile book to learn more about the inner workings of depression and suicide and for the prose.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
The writing in this book was so well done - you could tell that Leadbetter agonized over all the word choices in order to find just the most precise word. But I found this book rather depressing. His life has been a dark one and it came through in the book. There was one very enlightening chapter describing the feelings of being suicidal.
Joy, Death and Joan Didion - I just didn't feel much joy while reading this memoir. Death was a prominent theme and not as much on Joan Didion as I would have like to have read. Joan was definitely a mentor and supporter but her influence was just not as in depth as I would have wanted.
The book was a worthwhile book to learn more about the inner workings of depression and suicide and for the prose.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my fair and honest opinion.
June 19, 2024
So interesting to be a "fly on the wall" in reading about some of Joan Didion's personal and daily details. Otherwise, this was an earnest but not especially fascinating memoir from Didion's personal assistant.
June 23, 2024
Didion's presence is liminal, so much so that including her name in the subtitle feels strictly like a marketing strategy. Leadbeater is a gifted writer and very honest, and yet there's something aloof about the whole work.
July 21, 2024
If you were hoping for Nunez on Sontag, this isn’t it. Didion makes very few appearances. Instead this is all about trauma and grief. I particularly appreciated the very real descriptions of what is like to have suicidal ideation.
January 29, 2024
beautiful book from a beautiful person written in memory of a beautiful person
April 19, 2024
I wanted to like it more but I found myself bored.
April 22, 2024
Thank you for the Goodreads giveaway.
I find it hard to review a book on somebody's life.
I could relate to some of the same experiences the author faced.
I would recommend reading this memoir.
I find it hard to review a book on somebody's life.
I could relate to some of the same experiences the author faced.
I would recommend reading this memoir.
May 28, 2024
Very good!
keep it up
keep it up
May 31, 2024
This is an interesting and insightful book. Life lessons are so hard. Well written.
June 15, 2024
A brutally honest meditation on class, family, mental health, and the struggles of elevating yourself from humble beginnings into the life you aspired to (and what that truly costs).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews