Reviews with content warning for Blood - Play It As It Lays

She wanted to tell him she was sorry, but saying she was sorry did not seem entirely adequate, and in any case what she was sorry about seemed at once too deep and too evanescent for any words she knew, seemed so vastly more complicated than the immediate fact that it was perhaps better left unraveled.

An addicting story (thanks to the prose) about shallow people and their shallow lives. And mental illness. Reminded me a bit of "The Bell Jar".

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flara's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was an intense read. Like a tornado, it came out of nowhere. It kept on gaining intensity until it swept me away. There are passages in this book that are brutally sharp; they might as well cut through me. I understood Kate, her feelings.. or lack thereof. I believe Play It As It Lays was set in the 1960s, and yet it didn't feel aged. It felt very contemporary, disturbingly so. I enjoyed every single page of this very confusing, very tense, very dark novel. It's one of very few books that I regretted having finished reading.

I have this funny thing with Didion: every book that I have picked up so far ended up being very on theme. First I read The Magical Year of Thinking, and felt I could not relate due to lack of life experience with grief. Not a month later my grandfather became gravely ill, and died shortly after. That's when I picked up Blue Nights. Kate has an illegal abortion in Play It As It Lays, which I started reading just as Roe v Wade has been overturned. Crazy how a book from 60 years ago could be so relevant to the current affairs of today.

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margaretrose's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a book without a clear plot (there's a series of events but it doesn't carry through in a straightforward way) and like no character development. They sorta suck at the beginning and they don't get better. It's not a book for someone who is looking to read for any reason other than just experiencing another perspective or wanting to try some Joan Didion.

I also did not expect to read a book with an illegal abortion plot point the weekend that the supreme court struck down roe v. wade but here we are

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emilycm's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

this was everything i could have wanted it to be and more. and instant new favorite in life and of didion's work. she gets the heat of california so well, and i felt that this novel elevated that intensity in the heat in the dynamics between her characters even more than in her essays. maria was a tricky character, but after a few chapters, i was hooked into who she was and what the game she was playing was. the secondary characters (of which i think california itself acts as a character in this and all of didion's work) too got me intrigued, and i thought their complexities to be chilling. i can see why this leaves people with mixed feelings, but for me, it was the right amount of ambiguity and tension that i felt committed. this is so raw in its nature, and it comes at you full force if you let it. i really loved this, and i'm still digesting all my feelings, but this...this was delicious.

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margztgz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I expected to enjoy this novel more than I did but it was an interesting read nonetheless and I finished it very quickly. I felt a lot of empathy towards the main character as a woman essentially lost in so much of her life. Certain scenes were difficult to read but so well written and encapsulating. I thought the language was good at keeping attention yet left me in a bleak mood.

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annasreads612's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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