Play It as It Lays (1970) is one of Joan Didion's best known novels and included in Time Magazine's "100 Best English Language Novels from 1923 to 2005." Maria (Mar-eye-a) Wyeth is a 30 year old model and actress living in California. She is divorced from a film producer and has a daughter, Kate, who has been hospitalized for a long time for physical and mental issues. Maria spends her days basking in the ennui of the 1960s privileged Beverly Hills elites. She constantly cruises the highways in her car (without any destination) and has multiple relationships with abusive men. She eventually suffers a mental breakdown.
Maria is a complex character. She has no purpose in life. She is self-destructive, submitting to emotionally abusive men, not eating, doing nothing in hotel rooms for days on end, drinking and taking drugs in excess. Maria's life is hollow and lonely, but it's a life she has chosen.
Didion's writing is chilling. She crafts each sentence honestly, realistically and hauntingly. Didion also includes many symbols and motifs in her writing. More descriptions of the Californian landscape would have enhanced the plot, but I'll play it as it lays.
Play It as It Lays is well written, and although it's not a pretty story, it's one you can't stop reading. For these reasons, Joan Didion's indictment of the 1960s West Coast elites gets five out of five stars.
