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Summary: Another one of those classics
Review: Who says what's a classic and what isn't? This is yet another one of those "classics" that just bores you to death before anything really happens (if anything ever happens). There really was no plot, no suspense, no action, no drama, or plot twists. The whole story was about a bunch of boring New Englanders going about a very boring existence, some going to school, a marriage that wanted to be, yet didn't want to be, that was poorly acted out, and the stage manager just talking nonsense. The story could've gone without the whole last act since at the very beginning of the story, it pretty much begged to be ended.
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Summary: great war story
Review: this gripping novel cataloging the US role in Vietnam during the early 1960s paints a gripping, morbid, morose and yet compelling canvas of human emotion and suffering. However, this reviewer was left unmoved.
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Summary: A simple story with a big message
Review: Through the use of small town characters and the element of simplicity, Thornton Wilder creates universal themes about the cycle of life that reign eternal even today. The play Our Town tells the story of two simple families, the Gibbs and the Webbs, living in the town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. In three acts, Wider journeys through the cycle of life, from the birth of a new life, all way up to the inevitable. Throughout the play, the reader experiences the great milestones in life that they can relate to, such as new life, first love, long lasting love and the effect of death. The last act holds a special significance. In the last act, Wilder uses the theme of death to show the reader how humans fail to "realize life while they live it." Our Town's simplicity also helps it appeal to a multitude of audiences, whether young or old, past or present. From the characters, to the diction, to the set design, Wilder simplifies everything to help the reader better relate to the story. When writing the dialect for the play, Wilder uses typical country vernacular and has the Stage Manager speak directly to the audience, which makes the reader feel apart of the story. Wilder's sets, or lack there of, allow the reader to use their imagination, but not focus so much on scenery that they miss the message. All in all, Our Town by Thornton Wilder is an exceptional play. With this play, Thornton Wilder tries to get us in general not to live life in a blur and to stop and smell the roses. Anyone can appreciate the contents and themes in this play, no mater what age, race, or gender. It is ideal for easy reading and will leave you with a newfound respect for life.
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Summary: Clean and spare
Review: Our Town is, i would guess, the most produced stage play in america. You need no props,no singing,no dancing.It introduced of place,Grovers Corners,N.H. into the lexicon. The play though first produced in the late 1930's takes place in the early part of the 20th century. It tells the tale of two families, the Gibbs and the webbs,in love life and death{Wilder never skirted the issue of death in his writings>}Its timlessness lies in the essence of wilders writings: how the simple ,the mundane taken together make us who we are, and how important the quotidian chores of daily existence are. The heartfelt exclamtion near the end of the play asking if human beings ever realize thier lives before it ends? followed by the wise narrator's some saints and poets has stayed with me since childhood. An easy read, though not a simple one.Is this the great american play? Who knows.It is certainly great and good,and stands up very well almost 70 years later. Essential reading,on anyones list.
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Summary: I loved the book
Review: I loved the book it is what high school life is kind of like now we get up go to school come home and have algbra tests also. I think every body in the world should read this book. Right now I am tring to get my younger cousin to read it I think it will probally change her life like it changed mine I think about every moment more now. Thank you to the author for writing this book.
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Summary: very deep and meaningful play
Review: at my school at the moment we are currently acting out the play. i play the part of mrs webb. the main storyline of the play is my family the Webbses and the Gibbs family. we live next door to each other. our two eldest children fall in love. they get married but it is short lived and tragically emily, who is my daughter, dies in childbirth and she goes back and relives a past day. it is a very emotional pay. it is quite short but there is so much information crammed into the short space. going back to relive her 12th brithday, the day she chose to relive, was very hard for emily to do. george is a baseball playing jock and emily is a hard working nerd but you know what they say opposites so attract.
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Summary: A Quick and Easy, Good Read
Review: Thornton Wilder's Our Town is a very short read, yet it is crammed with tons of wisdom, and real life situations. The play starts out in Act 1 introducing you to two all American families that live next door to each other. As the play progresses, you get an inside look on just who these people really are, and watch them grow and really expierence life as the years pass. They touch base with many memorable situations that we all go through such as the celebration of marriage, and the facts of death that we all muct eventually face. Ending with an unusual twist, this heartwarming yet eye-opening story is truely original.
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Summary: An All-Encompassing Play
Review: This is Thornton Wilder's masterwork--a little play, as he wrote, with all the big things in it; and a big play with all the little things in it. It's a quiet and gentle piece (all to easy to consider "boring," as some have below) which nonetheless packs unspeakable power in its assertion. Life, Wilder argues, is far more precious than we usually make it; we are most often too caught up with the "big" stuff, the scenery of our lives, to notice the small, human details that really do matter. When this play works, it enables us to see life through different eyes than we did before; it shows us something that we already knew but that we did not know that we knew. Earth, you *are* too wonderful for anyone to realize you. Thank you, Mr. Wilder.
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Summary: Our Town
Review: The vision Wilder offers of the human condition in Our Town is essentially tragic. It is a picture of the priceless value of even the most common and routine events in life and of the tragic waste of life through failure to realize the value of every moment. Unaware of the value of life, the people of Grover's Corners live their lives banally and seldom get beneath or above the surface of life.The artistic problem basic to Our Town is that of showing that the events of life are at once not all they could be because they are taken for granted--but are priceless.... By relating the ordinary events in the lives of these ordinary people to a metaphysical framework that broadens with each act, he is able to portray life as being at once significant and trivial, noble and absurd, miraculous and humdrum.
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Summary: Great book but went by too fast.
Review: I was able to read this book in about 1 1/2 days. It is a wonderful book with three acts. The First Act is called Daily Life. The Second Act is Love and Marriage. The Third is Death and After Death. The book mainly revolves around George and Emily. The characters include Dr. Gibbs, Mrs. Gibbs, Mr. Webb, Mrs. Webb, George, Rebecca, Emily, and Wally. Well the first act sets everything straight and gets you familiar with your surroundings. We find that Emily and George kind of have a thing for each other. They help each other with homework. Then they get married. Then something happens to Emily which I will not say. All in all...great book.
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