Play It As It Lays

AruthlessdissectionofAmericanlifeinthelate1960s,PlayItasItLayscapturesthemoodofanentiregeneration,theennuiofcontemporarysocietyreflectedinspareprosethatblistersandhauntsthereader.Setinaplacebeyondgoodandevil-literallyinHollywood,LasVegas,andthebarrenwastesoftheMojaveDesert,butfigurativelyinthelandscapeofanaridsoul-itremainsmorethanthreedecadesafteritsoriginalpublicationaprofoundlydisturbingnovel,rivetinginitsexplorationofawomanandasocietyincrisisandstunninginthestill-startlingintensityofitsprose.JoanDidionistheauthoroffivenovelsaswellasseveralworksofnonfiction,including"SlouchingTowardsBethlehem,""TheWhiteAlbum,""Miami,""Salvador,""AfterHenry,"and"PoliticalFictions."ShelivesinNewYorkCity.AdissectionofAmericanlifeinthelate1960s,"PlayItAsItLays"capturesthemoodofanentiregeneration.JoanDidionchoseHollywoodtoserveashermicrocosmofcontemporarysocietyandexposedaculturecharacterizedbyemptinessandennui.MariaWyethisanemotionaldrifterwhohasbecomealmostanesthetizedagainstpainandpleasure.Shefindsherself,inherearlythirties,radicallydivorcedfromhusband,lovers,friends,herownpastandherownfuture.Actress,daughter,wife,mother,woman:shehasplayedeachroletothesoundofonehandclapping."PlayItAsItLays"issetinaplacebeyondgoodandevil,literallyinLosAngelesandLasVegasandthebarrenwastesoftheMojave,butfigurativelyinthelandscapeofanaridsoul.Twodecadesafteritsoriginalpublication,itremainsaprofoundlydisturbingnovel."Therehasn'tbeenanotherAmericanwriterofJoanDidion'squalitysinceNathanelWest...Aterrifyingbook."--JohnLeonard,"TheNewYorkTimes""""Simple,restrained,intelligent,well-structured,witty,irresistiblyrelentless,forthrightindiction,anduntaintedbythesensational,"PlayItAsItLays"isabookofoutstandingliteraryquality."--"LibraryJournal""A]scathingnovel,distillingvenomintinydrops,revealingdevastationinasneerandfearinahandfulofatomicdust."--J.R.Frakes,"BookWorld"