PLAY is an interesting memoir that is a compilation of pictures, drawings, and short stories that are divided into acts like a play script. It has many references to well known classics like King Lear or Joan of Arc. The book is a melange of everything. The premise was what really attracted me to the book, but the content didn't click with me as well as I hoped it would. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the reading.

Feels like it is not sure what it wants to be - a personal memoir or self help book...it's rather odd frankly - couldn't make it all the way to the end

PLAY is a memoir of sorts in the form of a collection of linked informal essays and stories and divided into acts as if it were a play.
This book has a little bit of everything. All the stories and essays flow naturally and are connected, even if it sometimes feels random. The reader is taken for a ride - sometimes slow meandering turns, sometimes wild loops - through the author's mind.

Act 1 contains among other things etymology, literature, foreign (meaning non-Hollywood) movies, interesting historical anecdotes, and astute observations about the human condition.

Act 2 goes deeper, focusing firstly on the author's involuntary time in a mental hospital and his experiences with being bipolar. To me, this part reads like a diary of nightmares. Then we're off again - into art analysis, back to local history and literature.

Act 3 swerves from photography to comments on NY Times articles back to movies, spirituality, and the fascinating process of writing and publishing the book itself.

Throughout, the book is illustrated with images, artwork and photographs, which I loved.

This is a book for lovers of theatrics, movies, (local) history, and intellectual insights. At its heart it is a book about forgotten things, hidden context, or things that are overlooked in favour of more popular opinions. It's reality versus make-believe, truth versus art, and how they overlap in unexpected ways.

Thinking out of the box at its finest. Thoroughly engrossing.

This was not what I thought it was going to be. I actually couldn’t connect with it but i’m Not sure that was the author’s fault.  I’m fairly certain it was my preferences that kept me from connection.

I'm not sure what to say about this one. The author obviously had a great time writing this piece. I skimmed a lot of it because I had trouble getting invested in it. I'm sure I missed how everything was connected. It was just not for me.