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brandonotis's review against another edition
Read this in one sitting, maybe I should've let it digest in parts...
catalinathebes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
alassia's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
zanyzan's review against another edition
5.0
I've never understood why the English translation of this book is titled "No Exit". The French title "Huis Clos" is a term from the film industry meaning closed set so in addition to not being able to leave, no one can enter either. In any case this is a great, thought provoking book.
faisalbones's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
calledlune's review against another edition
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
joshknape's review against another edition
3.0
I first read this in 2006; read it more closely in 2017 and now at least a third time. If one is familiar with Jean-Paul Sartre (ol' Fartre, I like to call him), one probably wouldn't expect me--a Christian--to show interest in any of his work. Well, first, it is only No Exit that I have been interested in; second, I reread it more seriously only after seeing an explication of it, the issues it explores, in a *certain book by the Christian theologian R.C. Sproul that I read in summer 2016.
Sproul read Sartre's work, evidently including No Exit, and recognized Sartre's concepts of "nakedness/being naked" and man's revulsion at "the look" as arguments against belief in God. I considered this a lesson in open-mindedness to me, having thought I could have learned nothing from studying Sartre. It also helped that ever since my run-ins with an existentialism-spouting intellectual bully in my early years of college, I have taken a passing interest in the secular existentialist worldview (if only the way someone watches news of a murder or a train wreck).
Have you ever read "The Grand Inquisitor," Dostoyevsky's chapter in The Brothers Karamazov that sets out the atheist character Ivan's argument against God? A Christian could read No Exit for the same reason. Not that Sartre's argument for atheism resembles Ivan's--it doesn't. Ivan gives a dialectical argument couched in a parable, whereas Sartre's argument is more of an attitude, a visceral negative reaction to knowing one is constantly observed by God, rendered an "object" to be "looked" at rather than a "subjective" beholder.
________________________________________________________
*If There's a God, Why Are There Atheists?, by Sproul. Formerly titled The Psychology of Atheism. Recommended as a companion book to this play.
Sproul read Sartre's work, evidently including No Exit, and recognized Sartre's concepts of "nakedness/being naked" and man's revulsion at "the look" as arguments against belief in God. I considered this a lesson in open-mindedness to me, having thought I could have learned nothing from studying Sartre. It also helped that ever since my run-ins with an existentialism-spouting intellectual bully in my early years of college, I have taken a passing interest in the secular existentialist worldview (if only the way someone watches news of a murder or a train wreck).
Have you ever read "The Grand Inquisitor," Dostoyevsky's chapter in The Brothers Karamazov that sets out the atheist character Ivan's argument against God? A Christian could read No Exit for the same reason. Not that Sartre's argument for atheism resembles Ivan's--it doesn't. Ivan gives a dialectical argument couched in a parable, whereas Sartre's argument is more of an attitude, a visceral negative reaction to knowing one is constantly observed by God, rendered an "object" to be "looked" at rather than a "subjective" beholder.
________________________________________________________
*If There's a God, Why Are There Atheists?, by Sproul. Formerly titled The Psychology of Atheism. Recommended as a companion book to this play.
brechtian's review against another edition
dark
funny
fast-paced
4.5
So awesome & the unexpected dykery was a delightful surprise. I think I was born to play Inez I <3 toxic lesbians
jelena_52's review against another edition
5.0
“On meurt toujours trop tôt ― ou trop tard. Et cependant la vie est là, terminée: le trait est tiré, il faut faire la somme. Tu n'es rien d'autre que ta vie.”