Play it as it Lays

Play It as It Lays, by Joan Didion, follows Maria, an actress in Hollywood struggling to escape the tangle of pointlessness that her life has become. I enjoyed this novel, published in 1970, because Maria is by no means a likable character, but her internal journey became so important to me that I was desperate for her situation to improve. Though Maria tries to escape the mundane and oppressive reality that her Hollywood life becomes, blackmail and engrained societal norms within her stop her from making progress. The book can be a bit confusing at times, but it contains many striking images that left me thinking for a while. The fact that Maria resembles a washed out skeleton of a person really drew me to her more because she really doesn’t seem capable of fixing her situation. This is a book I plan on reading again. The book’s style makes it a quick read, but I found it easy to miss specific details.

This is a pretty cool photo of Didion. Source

Reading the book definitely requires a desire to learn more about Maria and look at her world from her eyes. There is also a very static and stale feeling to Maria’s life that can either really annoy the reader or push her to try to understand why nothing seems real or exciting.  I recommend the book to people who like Nathaniel West, or anyone who wants to read a book about Hollywood in the late sixties. Look forward to a disturbing abortion scene (which is actually quite revolutionary for a novel written in 1970) and a trip to the desert. Reading this book with a  feminist lens can also lead to a lot of interesting conclusions about Maria and her situation.

My rating: 7/10

Blue is the Warmest Color

This is my favorite poster for the movie.

I sadly missed Blue is the Warmest Color when it came out in theaters, so as soon as I saw that it was added to Netflix I dropped everything to watch it, meaning I dropped my math homework to watch it. Blue is the Warmest Color, released in 2013, is a French coming of age story about Adèle, a young girl who begins to discover more about her sexual identity. She meets Emma, a badass art student with blue hair, and they fall in love. I thought the movie was fantastic and extremely raw. The director, Abdellatif Kechiche, has a very interesting style. The scenes had a feeling of vulnerability and nakedness to them (aside from the many actual nude scenes). Everything seemed very real and raw. Nothing was spared for the sake of looking good for the camera. I found this to be especially true during scenes involving eating or crying (and unfortunately, sometimes both). This movie also didn’t spare the audience from feeling extremely awkward or uncomfortable. Definitely think about who you are going to watch this movie with before committing. There are at least three sex scenes, and one of them lasts eleven minutes and is about as explicit as I imagine a sex scene in a movie can get. That being said, I found the film really emotional and striking, and the connection that Adèle and Emma establish is both beautiful and terrifying. Adèle Exarchopoulos, who plays Adele, and Léa Seydoux, who plays Emma, did a phenomenal job and truly committed to their roles. I also enjoyed some of the wardrobe and style choices that I felt made the characters more real.

This is a pretty good example of the hair: rat’s nest or flawless? You decide.

Adèle’s hair remains a hot mess for the whole movie to the point where I wanted to chase her down the street with a hairbrush, and the girl cannot eat without her mouth wide open. These flaws only make Adèle more recognizable and likable, though. They also confirm my philosophy on days when I have to wear my hideous and very clunky snow boots: maybe if I wear them with extreme confidence, they will turn less disgusting. I definitely recommend the movie. Be prepared for a lot of emotion, drama, and nudity.

My rating: 8/10

Trailer:

Crossings

Crossings by Chuang Hua was a surprisingly quick read for a modernist novel. I wouldn’t exactly recommend this for a spring break read, but I did finish the book a lot sooner than expected. Time jumps back and forth in Crossings, and it is often difficult to identify the speaker, but this confusion added to my understanding of Fourth Jane, the main character. Fourth Jane, a young Chinese American woman, struggles with her desire to be independent and her feeling of loyalty to her family’s expectations and gender norms. She is also a badass who cooks amazing meals for her mediocre, self absorbed, emotionally unavailable, married boyfriend when she lives in France. First Jane bounces back and forth between breaking free of her father’s expectations and unknowingly living them through her actions, opinions, and ideals. I found myself applauding First Jane one minute, then screaming at her for bending to all the men in her life the next minute.  I loved the book’s style. The feeling of insecurity and confusion that I felt while trying to sort out all the details in Crossings complimented my analysis of Fourth Jane and the book as a whole. The book does a great job of illustrating a split between wanting to adhere to society’s expectations and desperately wanting to be free to be the maker of meaning. Though I had to do some re-reading, the story flowed really well and I found myself really invested in Fourth Jane’s life. It’s somewhat of a challenge and will require you to throw  chronology to the wind, but Crossings was well worth the read. I recommend this book for people interested in Asian American fiction, modernist or experimental novels, or feminist novels.

My rating: 7/10