A review by lydiogames
Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion

4.0

oftentimes pretty excellent, served as a welcome and fitting introduction to Didion and her work even if she's more acclaimed for her essay work. her voice has such confidence and, having read The White Album after this, I much prefer her vocabulary and approach here. Interestingly structured, in narrative and form, sometimes it works, othertimes not really. I think some chapters being, maybe, 5 lines of dialogue long provides some real moments of gravitas but in other instances I'm worried that she's wasting paper. The non-linear approach works in terms of benefitting how Didion writes but I don't think it necessarily adds to the book's actual strengths. would hesitate to describe it as confusing or hard to follow but there's a definite lack of clarity at times that threw me off at times.

but really full of excellent, memorable passages. Maria's dream of miscarriage with the white sheets is such an instantaneous, total knockout. immediate and strong contender for one of my favourite chapters I've ever read in anything ever. thematically the notions of chance and the jaded nihilism aren't hugely, consistently, explored, but there's a lovely lingering sense of sadness all the way throughout that really keeps this thing going. lots to recommend.