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Title: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams ISBN: 0-451-17112-8 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 September, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (20 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An emotional and gripping family drama
Comment: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is Tennessee William's highly-acclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning play that stands on equal footing with the best American dramas ever written. While uniquely American, it is also inherently universal. Set in the American South, Williams plays out a kind of Southern King Lear. The drama that plays out is, in its details, distinctly Southern, but the implications and the deeper themes of the story reverberate in the hearts and minds of anyone who has ever been in the midst of a family struggle. A dialogue-only play that features no narration, Cat is quite a unique play for two different reasons. First, it takes place entirely in real time, with no lapses between scenes or acts -- thereby adhering to the Aristotelian unity of time and place, something that isn't seen much in post-classical drama. Also, it maintains a very high level of emotional content throughout the entire play. It starts out quickly, soon reaches a fever pitch, and never lets up. To quote an early review of another book, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, in what was supposed to have been an insult, "The book seems not to have been written so much as shouted onto the page." Consequently, this is the rare play that not only works wonders on the stage, but is also a great work of literature: it reads very well (one can only imagine the emotional intensity of actually watching it being performed.) The book moves along at a breath-taking pace, and is a very quick read, as most plays are; there is, however, a lot more depth to it than appears on the surface. The themes it deals with are timeless and have been mined by many other playwrights, including Williams, before; indeed, they probably always will be. And yet, they endure. The story of this family struggle speaks to us in ways that few plays can from the page. A true classic of literature as well as the theatre, this work will not be lost on the reader. Williams succeeds brilliantly in his goal to capture the moving, evanescent essence of a family's interactions in motion. The gain is ours.
Rating: 5
Summary: Southern passion and pain
Comment: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is another masterpiece by Tennessee Williams, who was truly one of the 20th century's greatest playwrights. This play was presented in New York in the 1950s, and in book form it is an excellent read.
I haven't looked at other editions, but the Signet edition contains two different versions of Act 3, along with a note by Williams explaining how director Elia Kazan persuaded him to write a second version. This feature makes the book particularly useful for teachers and students.
"Cat" takes place on a Southern plantation, and deals with a wealthy, but very dysfunctional family. Williams creates stunning dialogue for his characters: Brick, the bitter, alcoholic ex-athlete; Brick's frustrated wife Margaret; "Big Daddy," the patriarch, who is dying of cancer; and the rest. Williams also establishes the plantation's original owners as a haunting presence through the lines of his characters.
"Cat" is an explosive family drama about greed, secrets, guilt, alcoholism, and sexual frustration. Williams' characters are larger-than-life, and even grotesque, but Williams never loses a grasp on their essential humanity. An important book for those with a serious interest in American drama.
Rating: 5
Summary: The All-American Family, Behind the Mask
Comment: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is a very simple story, but at the same time has very involved characters. It deals with many controversial themes such as homosexuality, alcoholism, adultery, and death. It is a true Southern masterpiece that takes place in the Mississippi Delta. Its Southern influence, language, and dialect add a lot of flavor to the novel which, in turn, transforms simple words into an intriguing story. It shows how greed and iniquities can tear a family apart, and also how death doesn't necessarily bring families together. Overall, I would highly recommend this drama because of the unique twists within the plot and characters. Tennessee Williams' novel has completely lived up to its Pulitzer Prize title.
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Title: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams ISBN: 0451167783 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 August, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams ISBN: 0811214044 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Death of A Salesman by Arthur Miller ISBN: 0140481346 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 06 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee ISBN: 0451158717 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 01 August, 1988 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Long Day's Journey into Night, Second edition by Eugene O´Neill, Harold Bloom ISBN: 0300093055 Publisher: Yale Nota Bene Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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