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Play It As It Lays

by Joan Didion
Play It As It Lays
Play It As It Lays

Stark dissection of ennui in '60s American life.

If you're drawn to the haunting precision of language and unflinching explorations of human disconnection, "Play It as It Lays" can strike a deep chord. Didion's style cuts to the bone, sparing no one in its depiction of emptiness and disaffection amidst the American dream. It's a powerful, if bleak, lens on the era's zeitgeist, something that can stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

Play It As It Lays

by Joan Didion
Condition guide

Book Condition Guide

Books in Like New Condition

This book may contain very minor cosmetic defects, but it is in pristine condition. There should be no yellowing, no foxing, no water damage, and no annotations of any kind on the cover and the pages. For paperbacks, there should not be any crease marks on the spine. This book is good as new — lucky you!

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Very Good Condition

This book has been used, but it is still in a clean condition. There should be no foxing or annotations of any kind on the inner pages, but a sparse amount may be present on the cover, title pages, or outside edges of the book. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be light crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Good Condition

We do our best to ensure the quality of our books, but there is no escaping the wear and tear that comes with time. Slight foxing and some annotations may be present on the pages and the cover. There should be no water damage of any kind. For paperbacks, there may be several crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

Books in Well Read Condition

This is a well-read book, which means that the previous owner probably really enjoyed it! The cover and pages may include moderate foxing and annotations, but the text is not obscured and still readable. Moderate cosmetic defects and minor water damage may be present on the edges of the book. For paperbacks, there may be multiple crease marks on the spine.

*Books may be missing bundle media (e.g. CD, e-book code), if included.

 

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ISBN: 9780374529949
Authors: Joan Didion
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date of Publication: 2005-11-15
Format: Paperback
Related Collections: Contemporary, Literary Fiction
Related Topics: Classics, Literature, Literary Criticism, Feminism
Goodreads rating: 3.92
(rated by 64981 readers)

Description

A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, 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.
 

Stark dissection of ennui in '60s American life.

If you're drawn to the haunting precision of language and unflinching explorations of human disconnection, "Play It as It Lays" can strike a deep chord. Didion's style cuts to the bone, sparing no one in its depiction of emptiness and disaffection amidst the American dream. It's a powerful, if bleak, lens on the era's zeitgeist, something that can stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.