Fiction

Play It As It Lays

Play It As It Lays

  • Downloads：5038
  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2023-01-24 05:53:03
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Joan Didion
  • ISBN：0374529949
  • Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary

A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s， Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation， the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader。 Set in a place beyond good and evil - literally in Hollywood， Las Vegas， and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert， but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul - it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel， riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose。

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Reviews

Mary Owen ，

“I know what ‘nothing’ means， and keep on playing。” This book dives into the pit of nothingness。 Maria’s story is one where she felt and loved and lost and felt again until she felt nothing at all。 This story is not fun and it’s not happy， but I flew through the book and will be thinking about it for a long while yet。 I feel like Joan perfectly captured the self-absorption of people and their willful ignorance to the suffering of their loved ones。 How people will “try” to help someone but they’r “I know what ‘nothing’ means， and keep on playing。” This book dives into the pit of nothingness。 Maria’s story is one where she felt and loved and lost and felt again until she felt nothing at all。 This story is not fun and it’s not happy， but I flew through the book and will be thinking about it for a long while yet。 I feel like Joan perfectly captured the self-absorption of people and their willful ignorance to the suffering of their loved ones。 How people will “try” to help someone but they’re really not trying。 They still use and abuse and only care once the person is no longer hanging on and gone。 Joan is marvelous。 One of the best writers I’ve ever read。 One of the realest depictions of depression I’ve ever read。 Don’t read this if you’re not in a good place。 。。。more

Emily Prest ，

4。5 stars。 Loved it so much

Evie Levine ，

3。5

R。 ，

"i know what "nothing" means， and keep on playing。" "i know what "nothing" means， and keep on playing。" 。。。more

Margia ，

Educating myself about California authorsI’ve heard Joan Didion described as a quintessential California author many times， but this is the first time I’ve read her work。 The imagery she creates of the desert， Vegas， and Los Angeles is mesmerizing and the short chapters and snippets she uses to convey Maria’s fragile mental state is very effective。 But I ultimately didn’t love this one！

Cecily Rigg ，

Read this in the university library and I think that made this an even more depressing experience。（The abortion plot made me think of the Blonde film about Marilyn Monroe）

⭑✯*⭒。✶ianis✶。⭒*✯⭑ ，

born to die paradise edition as a book

rors ，

two things:1。 love that women from reno have been crying in mccarran since 1960 and 2。 this is the seven husbands of evelyn hugo for depressed girls from the west

Hazel Harvell-Lackemacher ，

what a horrifying book。 ruined my week。 5/5 stars。

Madelene ，

Great character， loved that you’re allowed to read between the lines and have to think for yourself what indeed might have happened。 The style， however， is with a certain distance and of course the tone is depressed， and so it never really connects fully， since Maria is supposed to be numb。 This is obviously well-written， but falls in the old trap of then making you as a reader also feel numb。 Although the craft is impressive， sometimes a little too much happens off the page rather than on it。

sarabeth ，

the dysfunction of the character’s relationships with themselves and each other really can be mirrored in real life which made it so uncomfortable！ the discomfort kept growing as power imbalances showed along with abuse and mental illnesses。 i think we all can see ourselves as maria at some point in our lives which makes it so captivating。

Jasmine Thomas ，

I read this book a few months ago。。。but I truly cannot remember a single thing about it。

Rachel Iwaniw ，

terrifyingly beautiful

Selena ，

good and depressing

kyra ♡ ，

maria: 🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥🫥

Jade ，

I read this one every time I get my hopes up too much about my dreams， just so I get humbled about the reality that life sucks。

faith ，

i loved the idea of this but i honestly just found it such a bore to read。 the writing style didn’t do it for me， i saw someone compare it to Valley of The Dolls， which i also found quite boring， which i now can see is very true。 maybe it’s the kind of thing that gets better the second time you read it？

Kate Dixon ，

A complicated， but masterfully written book。

Will Lloyd-Regan ，

This is supposedly a classic and so I'm a little disappointed I didn't enjoy it more。 Perhaps it's that it fell prey to the same issues I had with Min Jin Lee's 'Free Food for Millionaires'， the lives of the wealthy or famous just interest me less， regardless of the hardships they may face。 The prose of the book is rich， Joan Didion having been a phenomenal writer。 I found 'The Year of Magical Thinking' was much more to my taste。 I gave that 4 stars and left it thinking perhaps her fiction writi This is supposedly a classic and so I'm a little disappointed I didn't enjoy it more。 Perhaps it's that it fell prey to the same issues I had with Min Jin Lee's 'Free Food for Millionaires'， the lives of the wealthy or famous just interest me less， regardless of the hardships they may face。 The prose of the book is rich， Joan Didion having been a phenomenal writer。 I found 'The Year of Magical Thinking' was much more to my taste。 I gave that 4 stars and left it thinking perhaps her fiction writing – that is unshackled by reality and left to explore the more imagined boundaries – would be much better。 Strangely I found just the opposite。 'Play it as it Lays' amounted to little for me。 There were some interesting ideas of memory - of people and places。 I also enjoyed the gender dynamics and I found the account of backstreet abortions valuable。 But I would have preferred to have read these sorts of musings or accounts in an autobiography。For a novel I was left wishing she had shot for more。 。。。more

Philippe ，

Understood at like 75% what was going on and who everybody was。 Rated this 5 stars the same way I rated the Catcher in the Rye five stars。 Wouldn’t reread or recommend but I really liked it in the end

Annabella ，

just exquisite。

Jessica ，

I don't remember how old I was， or where I was in life， when I last read Play It As It Lays。 I remember loving it and relating to it， but I think I relate to it even more now。 As someone who's lived in Los Angeles for going on fifteen years， I've never read an account of being a woman in Hollywood that has resonated as much with me， even fifty years after it was written。 Didion's writing is so beautiful and so many of her lines stay with me and beg me to read them over and over again。 I've read I don't remember how old I was， or where I was in life， when I last read Play It As It Lays。 I remember loving it and relating to it， but I think I relate to it even more now。 As someone who's lived in Los Angeles for going on fifteen years， I've never read an account of being a woman in Hollywood that has resonated as much with me， even fifty years after it was written。 Didion's writing is so beautiful and so many of her lines stay with me and beg me to read them over and over again。 I've read some other Didion， but I just know that this will always be my favorite。Play It As It Lays follows Maria， previously the wife and muse of an up-and-coming director who broke onto the scene with two movies starring her。 Since then they've grown apart， he's sent their daughter to a mental institution and Maria has sunken into a deep depression。 As she shuffles through different crowds of A-list celebrities， filmmakers， actors and producers， she can't shake the feeling that nothing matters。 She drives the freeways of California and Nevada， looking for any kind of escape from life， but it only leads her further into the darkness。 。。。more

Laura ，

Does not hold your hand explaining itself but hits home the feeling and scenes of a woman and the people in her life going through depression and the lengths they go through to compensate

Ellie Johnson ，

Bleak and Beautiful

t ，

i get her

Julietalexandradi ，

My first Didion book & it did nothing to me。

Elaine Kozak ，

Honest， gut-wrenching， hopeless despair。 Souls untethered from any form of salvation。 The book should come with a warning label。

josie trier ，

this was a difficult read。 domestic violence， sexual abuse， abortion， suicide， depression， drug and alcohol abuse。 a truly enthralling and disturbing novel; spectacularly written。

I。 Curtis ，

This snuck up on me， the way a rattlesnake sneaks in the dirt and the reeds， rearing it’s head and rattling it’s rattle in warning when someone is careless enough to stumble upon it。

ley ，

nihilism by force rather than choice。 the 1960’s must have been a period for didion， christ。 never have i read such a short book with such a way with words with the least words possible。 truly written for the modern girl。

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Play It As It Lays

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Play It As It Lays&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Play It As It Lays&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0