Reviews with content warning for Forced institutionalization - Play It as It Lays

I was recommended Play It As It Lays by someone who said it was unforgettable and empathetic. I was able to read it in a day. Didion’s writing is beyond unique. This book captures stagnation. It captures fear and being stuck and chasing after something that keeps moving away. It’s surreal and removed and yet so impactful. This is Fahrenheit 451 meets The Female Persuasion. Highly worth the read.

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hannahnasir's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The highlight of this book was Didion’s depiction of escapism. How one reaches a certain point of “what’s the fucking point?”, the panic turns into numbness, the chaos and anarchy into mere white noise. Didion expresses an extreme example of one who is disconnected, alienated in the most implicit means possible, the reader (or at least, me) is suspended in a binding pool of fear, fuelled by absolutely nothing. The feelings I felt whilst reading this book is so difficult to explain. But for the lack of a better analogy it felt like one big, painfully slow, painfully quiet panic attack. When everything feels so wrong it almost feels right - only it isn’t, this contradiction thus creating a void, in which the reader is pulled into a blackhole of nothing. I sound like I’m talking in circles, but perhaps that’s exactly what it is - a cycle. You feel so much it breaks you to the point of not being able to feel. Only for that to allow others to hurt you even further, breaking you again, so on so forth. TLDR; this book drove me insane. Do not read this if you’re not ready to face horrible Post-Read-Depression.

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amyrezende's review

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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margotcolville's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

My experience was very split between the two times I sat down to read. The first time (about the first half), I was engrossed - I couldn’t put it down. However, the second, I struggled to follow the storyline and couldn’t get my head all the way in. I didn’t get lost in the story like I did in the first half, and was more aware of my progress and position with regard to the end. However, the pace remained despite my detachment.

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deedireads's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.

TL;DR REVIEW:

Play It As It Lays, even 50 years after its original publication, remains an echoing and unsettling novel with lots to chew on. I was glad I read it as part of a reading group.

For you if: You like books that leave a lot of room for the reader to insert their own interpretation.

FULL REVIEW:

“What makes Iago evil? Some people ask. I never ask.”

This was my first novel by Joan Didion, and I read it as part of a formal, instructor-led reading group with the Center for Fiction. I was glad I did! Play It As It Lays has a ton of layers, lots to peel back, lots to explore. Definitely one of those books where it’s especially helpful to have others to discuss it with.

The story itself is about a woman named Mariah in Hollywood in the 1960s. She had one or two acting jobs but became especially noteworthy as the wife of a famous producer. The two have an unwell four-year-old daughter who lives full-time at a mental health institution. Longing for her daughter, wistful about life, and jealous of her husband’s success, Mariah lives in a very in-between state of life, alternating between just sort of floating through it and self-destructing. Narratively, we barrel toward a hinted-at, tragic ending.

This is a very fast read; only four hours on audio. During my class’s discussion about the book, we talked a lot about it being “disembodied.” It has a very eerie, surface-level type of feeling that really leaves a ton of room for a reader to insert themselves and interpret as they will. But where Didion really shines is, as always, at the level of the sentence.

While I wouldn’t say this is a favorite, I did enjoy it (especially after having processed it more with a group), and I’m glad I read it. Up next in our class: Slouching Toward Bethlehem!

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