I really enjoyed this little book. Clearly fiction, but based on ideas from the 1980's CIA/Reagan/ Oliver North and some blonde chic, Faith something. It bugged me, I looked it up, Oliver North's secretary's name was Fawn Hall. She does get a shout out in this novel as the blonde making copies. Perfect. The Iran/Contra affair. That entire political deal went down while I was attending a very small college in the near geographic center of Michigan. We paid more attention to it than most college students for the simple reason that one of the girls living on our floor was the daughter/niece or something of a fairly high ranking official in El Salvador - she was worried constantly about her families safety. So, while the bigger world picture and political implications certainly escaped 18 year old me -- I was aware of the basic incidents. So was Didion, and she's written a great fictional account of how someone can get sucked into the void. I really loved it, especially the ending.

"Maybe they looked at each other and knew that nothing they could do would matter as much as the slightest tremor of the earth, the blind trembling of the Pacific in its bowl, the heavy snows closing the mountain passes, the rattlers in the dry grass, the sharks cruising the deep cold water through the Golden Gate." arguably one of the most perfect lines ever written. this book was so unlike anything i've read by joan but still such amazing writing and her classic style. this was super fun and highly recommend for those wanting to read more of a mystery/thriller style novel. will stress this is a book you need to pay attention to to follow the plot..would not classify as a quick east read.

What a horrible and boring book. I am usually not so harsh when it comes to rating books, but there was just nothing I enjoyed about reading this. All the the blurbs saying what this book is about are very appealing, but I'm telling you right now, don't waste your time. And I would say just watch the movie based on the book that's on Netflix, but after doing some research (post read) apparently the movie was a disaster too, despite having some incredible actors.

Moral of the store, don't waste your time.

The novel is a somewhat confusing political thriller, told in starts and stops, concerning an investigation into the Iran-Contra scandal.

So, I found this book difficult to follow. Of course subjects like this - of conspiracy, lies, and obfuscation - do have ample measures of unclarity. But in reading this novel, I frequently did not know who the narrator was, did not know exactly what time frame it was in, or what country they were in (which to be fair, in one instance, the narrator did mention she wasn’t going to reveal).

I also never could understand why the main character would drop her lifestyle and quickly go on a gun running errand (no less) on the basis of what her semi-senile father told her - which starts the whole story.

However, the book is saved by Didion’s writing. Her wry prose, and her amusement at government double speak very much makes the effort reading it worthwhile. It’s just that the overall result is a bit disappointing.

Do not get me wrong, I am nothing if not a Joan Didion Stan… but this one was tough for me to get thru. I tried though!!!

Set in Central America and Miami in the mid-1980s in a world of spies, contractors, dirty money, gunrunners, failed reporters, bland diplomats, and political intrigues that mirror only ghosts of themselves, this is a small, chill novel that deserves far more attention than it's ever received. A fine and cerebral little political thriller.

I can’t wait to read this again

An espionage and conspiratorial tale similar to Graham Greene yet sharp, taut, illusory and spun with images that render it dreamlike. A very different kind of thriller set in a well defined time and place yet detailed with fragmentary imagery.

Confinata su un'isola con l'unico scopo di riuscire a capire se avere le capacità di smascherare il suo paese e gettarne in pubblica piazza i panni sporchi sia la sua unica ragione di vita oppure se scappare da questo vortice sia la cosa giusta da fare: azzardare e venire risucchiati o scappare e non essere avvolti dalle tenebre?

- Se non ti succede una cosa te ne succede un'altra, nessuno ne esce illeso.

Originally published here.

The dull and overwrought title, the fuzzy monochrome cover art dominated by letters, not to mention the plot and published date (1996) delineates this book as a certain kind of novel, native to the late 80s and 90s. The political-thriller involving shady arms deals and some person or persons just caught in-between. The American government is corrupt. Parts of it anyway. But it’s a sophisticated hands-off puppetmaster corruption. Bad things happen. People in third world countries die. American power and its politicians’ personal wealth increases.*

Yet, this story is hardly rote or typical. Joan Didion wrote it. The writing, as always, is superb. Even through the cynical lense of 2013, the events of 1984 as translated through 1996 are truly abominable. That the topic feels slightly dated may not be because it is a conception of American imperialism circa 1996, but that we have seen the process played out so often in the interim that it has become obvious and everyday.

The writing itself, told through a framing story of a reporter putting together the story many years later, is sparse and enamored with repetition. Didion observes the doublespeak and murky insubstantiality of political speak in interviews and speeches. Then repeats segments of it, over and over. She may go a little overboard, but the effect and pacing gives the novel a recursive feel. All of this has happened / is happening / will happen. Again and again.

Like Play it as it Lays, and, I suspect, most-if-not-all of Didion’s novels, the protagonist, Elena McMahon, is a woman becoming unhinged. The writing conveys an overpowering anxiety, whilst Elena maintains an aura of perfect control. Didion uses tricks like telling us when she (Elena) has stopped crying without ever telling us she had began. Or giving us a running record of how many hours it has been since she has last eaten. Again, like Play it as it Lays, the protagonist confronts a personal emptiness; they try to invoke meaningfulness through their family, their daughter, their ex-husband. Largely unsuccessfully. They have become too isolated by society, too absorbed with the abyss.



*As the novel’s central scandal is the Iran-Contra affair, this isn’t just cheap drama but an affirmation of the truth — There were virtually no consequences to all involved, and least of all to those in the highest positions.

I found this book very hard to follow. When reading a book of conspiracy and intrigue, I do expect things to be unclear, but here the narrator is unidentified; we never know how she came by the information she is imparting. We are left to decide for ourselves any motive for the decisions made by Elena, who as the main character is not very well filled-out. Her father, who is slipping into dementia, is a more interesting figure than she. The narrator does make the point several times that if you weren't there "in situ" you really can't understand what happened. I had hoped for some insights into the Iran-Contra affair, but all I perceived was a very sordid affair.

I read Play It As It Lays and loved it and wanted more Didion. I just finished this one and have absolutely no idea what happened.