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

dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 
Play it as it lays is one of the best books I’ve read in such a long time. Reading through it in only a few hours, I couldn’t put it down. Something was so unique about Maria and yet so familiar. It is clear how much Didion has influenced modern literature, specifically Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh. Didion so perfectly captures both the essence of womanhood and the art of being alive while feeling wholly lost onto yourself. What’s so beautiful about Maria is that she still plays the game, not letting her feeling of nothingness prevent her from playing each hand. I suppose she gets this trait from her parents, and specifically her father. Who played every hand as if the next had to be better than the last. There is something so captivating about living life in such a manner. But Maria has learned from her fathers mistakes and her mothers wishes. Unlike her father, she plays it as it lays, taking each moment in life at its face value - nothing more and nothing less. Unlike her mother, she sets forth on her own adventure, not letting the possibility of a different life stop her from having a different life. It makes you wonder about Kate, separated from her mother will she have the same inclination for living fast? Will she get the opportunity to live at all in a natural state? Canning peaches with her mother while the sun sets over an over chlorinated pool? Because I’m a sucker for a happy ending, that is what I wish for them. That Maria gets Kate and they go off somewhere, maybe Portugal? Or maybe the Valley. 
 
One thing I wholly object to is the forward of the book, which completely misses the point of the book altogether. Of course, it’s written by a man, and I stand by my bias that men cannot write or think of anything, but in particular they cannot begin to understand women. Additionally, I hated his insinuation that Maria is a bad person and people don’t like the book due to the “sordid” nature. People don’t like reality and people don’t like women. Maria is every woman and no woman and herself and not herself. She’s inspiring because despite the nothingness that plagues her, the drive to simply keep living for the small pleasures of life propels her forward. And she is also selfish and mean and vain and depressed. She’s feels so real I want to reach into the page to touch her, and yet I am met with the feeling of my own hand on the textured surface that of the book. What I will say is that this is a book that must be read under the hot relenting summer sun. It must be read in as close to a single setting as possible. And men likely won’t understand it. But I understand Maria and she understands me, and that is all that matters. 
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