Description

Book Synopsis
A profoundly disturbing novel that ruthlessly dissects American life in the late 1960s, from the author of The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking. One thing in my defence, not that it matters: I know what nothing' means, and keep on playingSomewhere out beyond Hollywood, hollowed-out actress Maria Wyeth's life plays out in a numbing routine of perpetual freeway driving. In her early thirties, divorced from her husband, dislocated from friends, anesthetized to pain and pleasure, Wheth is a woman who has run out of both desires and motives the epitome of a generation made ill by too much freedom.More than five decades after its original publication, Play it as it Lays remains a profoundly disturbing novel that ruthlessly dissects American life in the late 1960s, from the author of The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking.

Trade Review

‘She writes with a razor … You are both frightened and astonished … It seems to me just about perfect, so heartbreaking and inescapableNew York Times

‘Didion’s modant lucidity is like L.A. sunlight, a thing so bright sometimes it hurtsTime, Top 100 Novels of All Time

‘For a few decades, this was my favourite modern American novel … revelatory’ Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho

Play It As It Lays

Product form

£9.49

Includes FREE delivery

RRP £9.99 – you save £0.50 (5%)

Order before 4pm today for delivery by Sat 13 Dec 2025.

A Paperback / softback by Joan Didion

15 in stock


    View other formats and editions of Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion

    Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
    Publication Date: 10/11/2011
    ISBN13: 9780007414987, 978-0007414987
    ISBN10: 0007414986

    Description

    Book Synopsis
    A profoundly disturbing novel that ruthlessly dissects American life in the late 1960s, from the author of The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking. One thing in my defence, not that it matters: I know what nothing' means, and keep on playingSomewhere out beyond Hollywood, hollowed-out actress Maria Wyeth's life plays out in a numbing routine of perpetual freeway driving. In her early thirties, divorced from her husband, dislocated from friends, anesthetized to pain and pleasure, Wheth is a woman who has run out of both desires and motives the epitome of a generation made ill by too much freedom.More than five decades after its original publication, Play it as it Lays remains a profoundly disturbing novel that ruthlessly dissects American life in the late 1960s, from the author of The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking.

    Trade Review

    ‘She writes with a razor … You are both frightened and astonished … It seems to me just about perfect, so heartbreaking and inescapableNew York Times

    ‘Didion’s modant lucidity is like L.A. sunlight, a thing so bright sometimes it hurtsTime, Top 100 Novels of All Time

    ‘For a few decades, this was my favourite modern American novel … revelatory’ Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho

    Recently viewed products

    © 2025 Book Curl

      • American Express
      • Apple Pay
      • Diners Club
      • Discover
      • Google Pay
      • Maestro
      • Mastercard
      • PayPal
      • Shop Pay
      • Union Pay
      • Visa

      Login

      Forgot your password?

      Don't have an account yet?
      Create account