Play It as It Lays (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Joan Didion
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Black humor
- Time of Work: The late 1960’s
- Setting: Southern California and Las Vegas
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Values
- Locales: Los Angeles, CA
Characters Discussed
Maria Wyeth, an unemployed actress. She is an attractive woman in her thirties who desperately seeks love and stability, which are frustrated by the vicissitudes of her life. Separated from her husband, lovers, friends, and child, Maria consents to an abortion and then spends most of her time aimlessly driving the Los Angeles freeways. Events of the novel open after she has been committed to a sanatorium for failure to intervene in a friend’s suicide. Maria, for all of her failings, is an existential heroine who comes to understand the full impact of...
[The entire page is 1035 words long]
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