Tap cover to enlarge

Play It As It Lays

Published
Jun 1981
Main Genre
Contemporary Romance Contemp. Romance
Rating

About This Book

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

Genres & Themes

Genres

Buy This Book

Formats & Editions

Browse the different covers, formats, and publication history for this title.

Paperback

Paperback edition cover
Paperback
Jun 1981 Simon & Schuster ISBN 0671435965
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Mass Market Paperback
Jun 1983 Pocket ISBN 0671495909
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Paperback
Feb 1987 Pocket ISBN 0317567950
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Oct 1990 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374521719
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Nov 2005 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374529949
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Nov 2011 Fourth Estate (UK) ISBN 0007414986
Buy

eBook

eBook edition cover
eBook
Dec 2011 HarperCollins (UK) ISBN 0007414994
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Nov 2013 Zola Books ISBN 1939126177
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Aug 2015 Zola Books ISBN B014RGH39I
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
May 2017 Open Road Publishing ISBN 150404567X
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
May 2017 Open Road Media ISBN B072HMBLSN
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Jun 2024 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374608776
Buy

Audio

Audio edition cover
Audible
Mar 2013 Audible Studios ISBN B00C1WQO0U
Buy
Audio edition cover
MP3 CD
Jan 2017 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1536640646
Buy
Audio edition cover
Audio CD
Nov 2018 Brilliance Audio ISBN 1978604602
Buy