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Annalee Jeffries is superb as the theatrical incarnation of Doan Didion in a play based on the author’s memoirs following the deaths of her husband and daughter playing at TheaterWorks in Hartford, but the character is so in control, that the audience has a hard time breaking through the ice to warm up to her.

In “The Year of Magical Thinking,” journalist Didion penned her thoughts during the year following her husband John’s death. The doctor remarks that she’s a “cool customer” because of the matter-of-fact way she reacts to the news. Meanwhile, at the same time in another hospital, their daughter, Quintana, lies in a coma fighting septic shock “Life changes fast,” she tells us, “and then life ends.”

Didion’s coping mechanism is “magical thinking,” which really is a form of denial: She maps out routines and ways of thinking that allow her to postpone dealing with the reality of her loss and leave the door open in her mind for John to come back and for Quintana to recover and enjoy a normal life with her new husband.

Q, as her mother calls her, does recover and has setbacks before eventually dying within that same year. It’s gut-wrenching stuff and Jeffries, directed by Steve Campo, is powerful in the 90-minute intermissionless show. that takes us through the various thoughts of the author.

She feels emotions, analyzes her actions to see whether she might have done anything to change the outcomes, and takes a scathingly hard and honest look at herself as she weathers her grief, which she describes as “the unending absence that follows.”

The emotions are capped quickly, however, and she puts on a mask for anyone who gets close to her or wants to help. Unfortunately, when all is said and done, the character doesn’t appear that vulnerable, and it doesn’t seem important whether we feel for her or not. She deals with everything just fine on her own.

This distance is enhanced by Brian Pather’s stark set. A couch and a coffee table and a few props are all that grace the stage. Jeffries wears a stone-grey tunic pants suit. It’s a great performance, but of a character with whom we feel we have bonded even if she's provided certain unsettling insights: We don’t want to believe what happened to her could one day happen to us.

---- Lauren Yarger

The Year of Magical Thinking plays at City Arts on Pearl (233 Pearl Street, Hartford) through May 24. Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets: General admission $37 for weeknights and matinees; $47 for Friday and Saturday evenings; center reserved seats $11 extra; and college student rush tickets $11 can be purchased by calling (860) 527-7838 or by visiting www.theaterworkshartford.org.