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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Play It as It Lays is a class act of American literary fiction. Didion has mastered the complex, morally-grey main character. If you're bored of reading men writing women, I highly encourage you to read this novel.
" I Know what nothing means, and keep on playing. Why, BZ would say. Why not, I say."
This book follows our main character Maria and her 60's Hollywood life in California. I don't really want to say much about the specifics of the plot because I think it would take away from the experience of reading it.
Some things that I enjoyed about this book was the writing and the tone. The story is very fragmented and has a lot of blank space so you're left to infer a-lot of what might have happened and what Maria is feeling. Joan Didion is really great at setting a very clear and palpable scene without the descriptions being to wordy. Her writing was precise, clear and intentional which I really enjoyed. The main character is severely depressed and is going through the motions of life as an actress in California after experiencing some pretty traumatizing things which heavily affects the tone of the book. Detached from the realities of her life, very rarely showing any type of emotion to the people around her, Maria comes to terms with the meaningless of life and instead of turning away from it, she continues to go through the motions of it to see how it turns out, because , why not? I also really liked seeing how her state of mind affected her interactions with the people around her and her relationship with her self and her sense of reality.
Although I enjoyed the structure of the book, I did find it a little difficult to follow along when I would be thrown into a new scene with characters who had never been mentioned before, it felt a little disorienting how abruptly the scene would end and transition to other scenes, but the short chapters definitely made it a quick read. I was also not really able to connect to any of the characters, I felt like many of them did not have many redeeming qualities and although I've been enjoying reading about unlikable characters lately, I couldn't connect to them on or find myself caring for them which is kind of strange considering Maria's experiences should have made me feel something for her, it might be that her detachment from her emotions distanced me from her as a reader much like it did the characters around her, which thinking about it now seems super interesting.
In the end I did enjoy most of the book and I'm very interested to read more of Joan Didion's work.
This book follows our main character Maria and her 60's Hollywood life in California. I don't really want to say much about the specifics of the plot because I think it would take away from the experience of reading it.
Some things that I enjoyed about this book was the writing and the tone. The story is very fragmented and has a lot of blank space so you're left to infer a-lot of what might have happened and what Maria is feeling. Joan Didion is really great at setting a very clear and palpable scene without the descriptions being to wordy. Her writing was precise, clear and intentional which I really enjoyed. The main character is severely depressed and is going through the motions of life as an actress in California after experiencing some pretty traumatizing things which heavily affects the tone of the book. Detached from the realities of her life, very rarely showing any type of emotion to the people around her, Maria comes to terms with the meaningless of life and instead of turning away from it, she continues to go through the motions of it to see how it turns out, because , why not? I also really liked seeing how her state of mind affected her interactions with the people around her and her relationship with her self and her sense of reality.
Although I enjoyed the structure of the book, I did find it a little difficult to follow along when I would be thrown into a new scene with characters who had never been mentioned before, it felt a little disorienting how abruptly the scene would end and transition to other scenes, but the short chapters definitely made it a quick read. I was also not really able to connect to any of the characters, I felt like many of them did not have many redeeming qualities and although I've been enjoying reading about unlikable characters lately, I couldn't connect to them on or find myself caring for them which is kind of strange considering Maria's experiences should have made me feel something for her, it might be that her detachment from her emotions distanced me from her as a reader much like it did the characters around her, which thinking about it now seems super interesting.
In the end I did enjoy most of the book and I'm very interested to read more of Joan Didion's work.
slow-paced
i’m not a didion girl like the rest of you SORRY
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A