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alasiastar's review
4.0
i got this on a whim just bc i wanted to buy something but i throughly enjoyed it. it’s different from what i usually pick out but i’m glad i got it.
jdglasgow's review
3.0
I think my favorite part of this play was the quality of the paper it was written on: I seriously was mesmerized by its weaving as I was reading and I couldn’t help thinking that Thoreau, the Thoreau of the play I mean, would undoubtedly approve of that takeaway. Stop and smell the pulp!
I really loved this play in college and possibly as early as high school. I don’t recall how I stumbled upon it. My copy has highlighting where I’d pulled out particular phrases or exchanges I found especially funny or profound. I considered myself a big fan of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, though I liked “Inherit the Wind” less than this work. Before reading it on Goodreads, though, I wanted to read it again to see if it held up.
I found Thoreau kind of insufferable on this read. I appreciate his opposition to war and to slavery, but his insistence that working is a kind of slavery of its own is immature, and the way he romanticizes his one day of imprisonment speaks of a level of privilege he fails to appreciate or comprehend. His “Transcendentalist” philosophy also reads as largely contrarian for its own sake. I don’t know if I felt more aligned with Thoreau’s “rebellion” as a youth, but on this read I disliked him.
My suspicion is that my previous admiration for this play lies less in Thoreau as a character but in Lawrence and Lee as playwrights and I think that does remain. The language they employ in their stage direction and various parentheticals is delicious. For instance, one thing I had highlighted and still liked a lot was a description of a war scene as a “psychedelic splatter of shrapnel”.
And then there’s just the staging of the play itself, with the forestage acting as invisible bars to Thoreau’s cell. The way they have him glide effortlessly in and out of flashbacks and dream sequences. The use of the audience as “students” in a classroom. There’s a lot of inventiveness here in the presentation which is still exciting.
I still feel like Lee and Lawrence are excellent writers. Their production note at the end suggesting anybody attempting to put on the play try to do so as minimally as possible is enjoyable to read on its own. What reduces “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” is that the characters, the plot of the play itself, fail to generate enthusiasm. It’s great in theory and good in individual moments but overall fails to make a case for its Thoreau, at least not one that I could buy into.
I really loved this play in college and possibly as early as high school. I don’t recall how I stumbled upon it. My copy has highlighting where I’d pulled out particular phrases or exchanges I found especially funny or profound. I considered myself a big fan of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, though I liked “Inherit the Wind” less than this work. Before reading it on Goodreads, though, I wanted to read it again to see if it held up.
I found Thoreau kind of insufferable on this read. I appreciate his opposition to war and to slavery, but his insistence that working is a kind of slavery of its own is immature, and the way he romanticizes his one day of imprisonment speaks of a level of privilege he fails to appreciate or comprehend. His “Transcendentalist” philosophy also reads as largely contrarian for its own sake. I don’t know if I felt more aligned with Thoreau’s “rebellion” as a youth, but on this read I disliked him.
My suspicion is that my previous admiration for this play lies less in Thoreau as a character but in Lawrence and Lee as playwrights and I think that does remain. The language they employ in their stage direction and various parentheticals is delicious. For instance, one thing I had highlighted and still liked a lot was a description of a war scene as a “psychedelic splatter of shrapnel”.
And then there’s just the staging of the play itself, with the forestage acting as invisible bars to Thoreau’s cell. The way they have him glide effortlessly in and out of flashbacks and dream sequences. The use of the audience as “students” in a classroom. There’s a lot of inventiveness here in the presentation which is still exciting.
I still feel like Lee and Lawrence are excellent writers. Their production note at the end suggesting anybody attempting to put on the play try to do so as minimally as possible is enjoyable to read on its own. What reduces “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail” is that the characters, the plot of the play itself, fail to generate enthusiasm. It’s great in theory and good in individual moments but overall fails to make a case for its Thoreau, at least not one that I could buy into.
nancybeth's review against another edition
2.0
While well-written, I didn't find Throreau as sympathetic as I was suppose to. I found him a self-important and annoying idealist, which affected how I interpreted numerous elements of the play.
maeladb's review
3.0
I truly cannot tell if I hated this play or if I really enjoyed it. I liked some of the themes however there were some sections that had me completely lost in my own mind. It was good but I don't think it quite reaches the mark of being great.
sunshinefalls's review
5.0
wow.
WHAT A PLAY.
"We love without knowing it. A man - or a woman - can't love on schedule. I don't wake up in the morning and say: 'I shall start loving at nine-twenty, and continue until ten-fifteen.' Yes, it is accidental. And it's everywhere - it's the wind, the tide, the waves, the sunshine."
"I hereby EXCOMMUNICATE YOU FROM THE MILKY WAY!"
WHAT A PLAY.
"We love without knowing it. A man - or a woman - can't love on schedule. I don't wake up in the morning and say: 'I shall start loving at nine-twenty, and continue until ten-fifteen.' Yes, it is accidental. And it's everywhere - it's the wind, the tide, the waves, the sunshine."
"I hereby EXCOMMUNICATE YOU FROM THE MILKY WAY!"
rachelreads348's review
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
antiasann13's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
emma7mae's review
challenging
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
it’s one of the few schools books that i’ve genuinely enjoyed reading