Play It As It Lays
by Joan Didion (also rec’d by Michael Stipe & St. Vincent )
Buy on AmazonFor a few decades, this was my favorite modern American novel because it was in the execution of the book’s style that the meaning of the book was conveyed, more than the minimal story or characterizations. The fact that you could do this was revelatory—that style trumps story, character, everything.
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"For a few decades, this was my favorite modern American novel because it was in the execution of the book’s style that the meaning of the book was conveyed, more than the minimal story or characterizations. The fact that you could do this was revelatory—that style trumps story, character, everything."
Favorite books · radicalreads.com
"Turned me onto the poetry of nihilism at a very tender age. Spare and strong, ‘I know what “nothing” means, and keep on playing.'"
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"It was not the first Didion I’d ever read, but it was one that I felt instantly sucked in by and it kind of reads like a fever dream, so it’s really good one to read in one go."
Favorite books · radicalreads.com
Favorite books · radicalreads.com
"I love her use of spare narrative throughout this story about an unfulfilled actress looking for purpose in her life. I admired the style then and have tried to pattern some of my own writing in that fashion."
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"Which weirdly, through a Jack Pierson photograph and a gift from Douglas Coupland, became maybe the genesis of, and one of the three horns of my ongoing obsession with sculptural replicas and obsolete forms."
Favorite books · radicalreads.com