Play It as It Lays

This theme occurs frequently throughout the novel, especially in reference to gambling and casino games. Having grown up around casinos with her gambling father, Maria sees life as a game in which every player chooses a strategy, or chooses to stop playing.[17] Describing her upbringing she says, “My father advised me that life itself was a crap game: it was one of the two lessons I learned as a child. The other was that overturning a rock was apt to reveal a rattlesnake. As lessons go those two seem to hold up, but not to apply.”

The title of the book, Play it as it Lays is a reference to advice from Maria's father on playing craps: "it goes as it lays, don't do it the hard way", an idiom with meaning similar to "playing with the cards you are dealt". At the exposition of the novel, Maria describes the recent events of life as such, "I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?”.

Furthermore, social interactions can be seen as a kind of game. Maria tries to be a good "player" when she speaks to her doctors: “There are only certain facts, I say, trying again to be an agreeable player of the game.”

Death can be seen as the choice to stop playing the game of life. As he is about to commit suicide, BZ says to Maria, "you're still playing [...] Some day you’ll wake up and you just won’t feel like playing”. By choosing to die, BZ decides to stop playing. Meanwhile Maria references her choice to keep living, and continuing to "play" the game of life despite its meaninglessness, in the famous quote: “I know what 'nothing' means, and keep on playing.”

Throughout the novel Maria and other characters reveal a belief in the meaningless of life. This theme may be ascribed to depression which the characters experience, to the emptiness of working in Hollywood or as an overarching philosophical theme on life. Many scenes in the book can be seen as an encounter with absurdity and nothingness,[18] as Maria has odd encounters with strangers whom she never sees again. Maria's dark view of life is revealed in quotes such as, "Maria did not particularly believe in rewards, only in punishments, swift and personal."

The concept of nothing occurs in many contexts, such as Maria marking "nothing applies" on her hospital documents, and repeating this thought when revisiting memories of her past. When speaking to Benny about their now-destroyed hometown, Maria says, "there is no Silver Wells”, suggesting that finding meaning in past memories is futile.[19] The line "Maria said nothing" occurs repeatedly in several dialogues, suggesting that Maria considers it pointless to explain herself to others.[16]

Maria does not try to find greater meaning in suffering, nor does she ask questions about why suffering occurs and if there is a purpose to it. This view is presented in her opening monologue, "Carter and Helene still ask questions. I used to ask questions, and I got the answer: nothing. The answer is 'nothing.'"

Play It As It Lays is considered a classic Los Angeles novel, containing many literary motifs associated with Los Angeles and California.

The interstate freeway plays an important part in both the setting and the plot of the novel, as the protagonist spends her days driving on the freeway as a form of escapism, a motif that is popular in Los Angeles novels. Los Angeles, known as "a city on wheels",[20] has a unique identity as a city designed for cars, due to its flat terrain and relatively late urbanization.[21][22]

The philosophical themes of the novel have been described as "freeway existentialism"[23] as Maria goes on drives without a destination in mind. Maria fulfills the literary trope of a drifter, a common trope in Los Angeles novels, where protagonists are often depicted driving, either as a way to chase their dreams or to escape their problems.[20] Driving a fast car on the open road is often considered a literary symbol of the illusion of freedom, which is easily achieved in Southern California, where there is a well developed, multi-lane freeway.[20]

Some of the plot developments occur while driving. For instance Maria informs Carter that she is pregnant when they are driving on the freeway. When driving to the house where her illegal abortion is to occur, Maria and the man in the "duck pants" discuss their cars, which brings a sense of normalcy and relief to Maria, “In the past few minutes he had significantly altered her perception of reality: she saw now that she was not a woman on her way to have an abortion. She was a woman parking a Corvette [...] while a man in white pants talked about buying a Camaro. There was no more to it than that.”

An ongoing theme is that Maria avoids her problems by driving away from them, and as she sinks deeper into a nihilistic depression, she drives further distances, driving between California and Nevada.

Didion is often credited for capturing the atmosphere of Hollywood in the 1960s. Play It As it Lays depicts Hollywood as a "broken paradise" as seen from the point of view of a disenchanted actress,[24] in contrast to the more common, utopian view of Hollywood.[25] The novel depicts the scheming, exploitation, and elitism common in the film industry at that time. In the same way that movie makers manufacture stories, the characters in the film industry manufacture their own image to attain status and fame.[11]

Though themes of narcissism and self-destruction among the wealthy are old themes, seen in novels such as The Great Gatsby, the focus on the inner workings of movie production at the end of Golden Era Hollywood, establish Play It As It Lays as a classic Los Angeles novel. Maria's acting career is on the decline because she walked away from a movie set, damaging her reputation in an industry where reputation is highly important. This leads her to become more detached and apathetic to the social culture around her, and she begins to disregard social conventions and isolate herself from her acquaintances, rejecting invitations to parties and choosing to be alone instead.

Many dialogues between Maria and other characters portray the superficiality and strategy associated with the film industry, as characters choose words carefully to achieve an aim or to avoid direct communication. The few dialogues which depict genuine, heartfelt interactions stand out, such as BZ telling Maria, "hold into me" before overdosing.

Considered a classic work of American fiction, the novel has received largely positive reviews from literary critics, but often draws mixed reviews from the public due to its bleak content and unlikable protagonist.[26] The plot has been described by critics as having "cinematic nihilism",[27] and being a "ruthless dissection of American life in the 1960s." It has been positively described as a "terrifying book."[28] In a review of the novel, Joseph Epstein described Joan Didion as a novelist: "her vision is dark, her views are bleak, but she is richly talented."[23] J. Frakes, reviewing the novel in the Book World column of The Washington Post, described the novel as a "scathing novel, distilling venom in tiny drops, revealing devastation in a sneer and fear in a handful of atomic dust." Library Journal described it as, "intelligent, well-structured, witty, irresistibly relentless."[29]

Didion's writing style in this novel has been applauded for breaking from literary tradition and making use of a precise, minimalist style,[30][23] composed of short chapters, some of which are only a few sentences long, leaving the page mostly blank. The style has been described as "short, laser-focused chapters that come in hot and burn out just as quickly like a firework."[31]

The novel continues to be a prominent work in popular culture. The book has been referenced in the Netflix television series, You.[32] In a 2023 survey among writers by the LA Times, Play It As It Lays was voted the third most popular LA book.[33] Literary Hub listed the novel in its list of 10 Essential Books That Capture Los Angeles in All Its Sublime, Beautiful Darkness.[34] The independent editiorial website Book Riot, included the novel in its list, 10 of the Best Books About Los Angeles, describing Didion, "when people think of Los Angeles authors, Joan Didion is almost always the first name that pops into their minds."[35] The novel is frequently listed as a popular Los Angeles novel by popular culture websites.[36][37]