Review by pi_a_la_mode - Play It As It Lays

pi_a_la_mode 's review for:

Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

4.25

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Engrossing immersion into a woman’s unraveling. Didion’s writing is personal to the point of making me feel a bit unraveled myself as I followed Maria along her downward spiral. By the last page, however, Maria’s state of mind is turned on its head, and leaves the reader to decide whether Maria has vindicated herself at all.

The close-third perspective basically adopts Maria’s knowledge of her own life and gave me two main problems: 1) made it difficult to fully understand certain situations that Maria glosses over and 2) hard to keep some characters straight that Maria mentions in passing and then interacts with again more significantly. The vignette format is jarring at first, but quickly finds a rhythm that becomes the pulse of the story, moving it forward beat by beat. Overall, thoroughly enjoyed this quick but powerful read.

Content Warnings