Play It As It Lays

A Novel

By: Joan Didion

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader.

Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Critic reviews

“There hasn't been another American writer of Joan Didion's quality since Nathanel West . . . A terrifying book.” —John Leonard, The New York Times

“Simple, restrained, intelligent, well-structured, witty, irresistibly relentless, forthright in diction, and untainted by the sensational, Play It As It Lays is a book of outstanding literary quality.” —Library Journal

“[A] scathing novel, distilling venom in tiny drops, revealing devastation in a sneer and fear in a handful of atomic dust.” —J. R. Frakes, Book World

Lack of Exposition Hurts the Effectiveness of the Story

This is not an easy read. The subject matter is very dark and the style of the writing lacks minimal exposition. It is an interesting book to study, in my opinion though, to learn about writing because you see the effects of certain choices, so may be effective in learning about literary techniques to some degree.

Stylish. Vivid.

The reader perfectly balances the tone, style and pace of this unsentimental, yet moving work. Joan Didion’s spare, almost photographic, novel is in very good hands.

Didion is a genius

Everytime I reimmerse myself in Didion, I am grateful for her detachment, snark, and brutal and glacial storytelling.

Exquisite 🤌🏻

Captivating story and the narrator did an excellent job with portraying the essence. The book played out like an episode of “Welcome to NightVale”. I was very impressed.☺️

For every woman who’s been told to be the good wife

This story felt grueling at times and even when I was 3/4 of the way through the book, I wasn’t sure I enjoyed it. Yet the point of it all does matter. The ending will wash over you like a sleeper wave. Didion has done something here that not many could, by painting a picture of perpetuated dysfunction and the outcomes.