FSG Classics: Play It As It Lays : A Novel (Edition 2) (Paperback)

from ToniApicelli

Although I read this many years ago, I remember well that it struck me there was no one else who described the empty space in a soul as well as Joan Didion. We understand a character more through what is not said than what is.

from bespectacledbug

The soothing tempo of Didion's beautifully crafted prose effortlessly locates the depressive glamour of 1960's Hollywood for one young woman. Available through nuances of the quotidian, the life of a moderately successful actress and her famous director husband manages to brilliantly reflect a so...

from ntempest

Didion's spare language always makes me think of empty highways through the middle of the desert. This book is a hard read emotionally because the protagonist is so dead inside herself. I first read this years ago, then reread recently after moving to the Los Angeles area, and I find it much more...

from Kristelh

Review: This is a story about "nothing". Set in the sixties and mostly hollywood, the story tells about a young woman's journey into madness. There is nothing happy about this book and thankfully it is short. I wanted to read it because I loved Ms Didion's book, A Year of Magical Thinking which w...

from lucybrown

I read this in the early 1980s shortly after I had graduated college. I can't give a really great review except that the book has stuck with me so I want to say something. The premise did not sound promising, but more like the soap opera themed books I avoided; second rate movie actress and model...