Rating: 
Summary: A lot of words for a ghost story
Review: In August Wilson's play, "The Piano Lesson", there are some good points and there are some bad points, but mostly boring points. The story just did not seem to be able to keep my attention.
I will discuss the parts that i thought were good first. I thought that August Wilson described the piano and its carvings on it extremely beautifully. The way he portrays the family's heritage within the piano is fantastic. What i especially loved was the symbolism of the stealing of the piano. He had made it seem like that if Sutter still had the piano, that the Charles family would still be bound to him. But on INDEPENDENCE DAY(!) they stole the piano from him, thus symbolically liberating the family. The stealing of the piano gives an extra significance for the Charles family to July fourth.
The beginning and the end of the play were very interesting. They were easily the most exciting parts of the book. I found it interesting to find out about the history of the family and how the piano was sacred to them. The end surprised me. I never expected Willie to get into a fight with the ghost of Sutter.
Now for the boring parts. Well, saying that the beginning and the end of the play were the most exciting, actually isn't saying a whole lot. The book just could not hold my attention at all. The only interesting points were the first and last ten pages. The 80 pages in the middle all seemed to have the same theme. That theme was that Willie and Berniece would get into an argument over the piano, then a few pages down the road it would be the same argument all over again. The other events that occured within the middle of the play seemed very insignificant. Lymon seemed to me like an unimportant character that could have been eliminated. Grace had no importance at all, but to fill up pages within the book.
"The Piano Lesson" seemed to me to be a very boring book at many points, although it did have its bright spots. This would make a much better short story than a play or a long book.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of words for a ghost story
Review: In August Wilson's play, "The Piano Lesson", there are some good points and there are some bad points, but mostly boring points. The story just did not seem to be able to keep my attention.
I will discuss the parts that i thought were good first. I thought that August Wilson described the piano and its carvings on it extremely beautifully. The way he portrays the family's heritage within the piano is fantastic. What i especially loved was the symbolism of the stealing of the piano. He had made it seem like that if Sutter still had the piano, that the Charles family would still be bound to him. But on INDEPENDENCE DAY(!) they stole the piano from him, thus symbolically liberating the family. The stealing of the piano gives an extra significance for the Charles family to July fourth.
The beginning and the end of the play were very interesting. They were easily the most exciting parts of the book. I found it interesting to find out about the history of the family and how the piano was sacred to them. The end surprised me. I never expected Willie to get into a fight with the ghost of Sutter.
Now for the boring parts. Well, saying that the beginning and the end of the play were the most exciting, actually isn't saying a whole lot. The book just could not hold my attention at all. The only interesting points were the first and last ten pages. The 80 pages in the middle all seemed to have the same theme. That theme was that Willie and Berniece would get into an argument over the piano, then a few pages down the road it would be the same argument all over again. The other events that occured within the middle of the play seemed very insignificant. Lymon seemed to me like an unimportant character that could have been eliminated. Grace had no importance at all, but to fill up pages within the book.
"The Piano Lesson" seemed to me to be a very boring book at many points, although it did have its bright spots. This would make a much better short story than a play or a long book.
Rating: 
Summary: A closer look at reality
Review: The Piano Lesson is my favorite play. The language is very surreal and heartwarming at the same time. It also gives us a closer look at reality; the reality African Americans have endured for decades. Boy Willie wants to sell an antique piano that was once owned by his ancestors. He wants to buy a land his parents had once worked as slaves. His sister, Berniece, refuses to give up the piano -- it has a sentimental value that she cannot let go. But it is the piano itself that teaches the family an important and valuable lesson about the importance of family history and the need for future opportunities. This is a piece of literature that cannot be overlooked. August Wilson is a master storyteller!
Rating: 
Summary: A lot a squabble for little content
Review: This book just went on and on about whether or not to keep the piano or to sell the piano in this 100 page play. I got board after the first twenty pages and found it painful to read on. This book gave me a headache because it would go back and forth from Boy Willie to Berniece. Boy Willie would make his arguement then Berniece would make hers. Then ten pages later the same thing would happen. This book had some good ideas, but I felt that the auther was trying to take up page space rather then create twists in the plot. I thought this book was a first draft and wouldn't recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: A play full of conflict and self-observation
Review: This can be an enjoyable read for anyone. Wilson's language and dialogue is beautiful. Descriptions of the piano are gorgeous and Wilson does a good job of making an inanimate object seem almost mystical. This is a play that should be read by everyone, regardless of race. It deals with many racial issues, however the main conflict between Boy Willie and Berniece is something that anyone can have an opinion on. I personally thought that both Boy Willie and Berniece had good points and one could sympathize with either of them, but their arguments tend to hide the truth to both of them, and possibly to the audience. The end of the play is a revelation to them both, and can be to the reader as well. Regardless of your background, you will enjoy this play as it deals with the importance of hard work and the betterment of one's life, contrasted with the significance of history and ancestry - issues that anyone can relate to.
Rating:
Summary: A MASTERPIECE, A Marvel! says JLS
Review: This is a PLAY to be read aloud! The power and brilliance is not only in the theme but in the pacing and rhythm of the dialogue. The character of Boy Willie comes to life when his words are spoken. On the page, he "speaks" rapidly and, sometimes, in an exuberant jumble of passion, rage, and confusion -- as he tries to convince his sister to sell the family piano so he seek his dream. When spoken, Boy Willie is an exciting man, so caught up with his one chance for success, that his words just flow. August Wilson is my favorite playwrite, too. I heed the advice from one of my teachers. A play is NOT a play until read aloud. Take a risk! Even if you are alone, read The Piano Lesson aloud. You won't sound silly. Act out all the parts. Don't deny yourself this masterpiece!
Rating:
Summary: Great play.
Review: This is the best of August Wilson.
Great dialogue/speeches, intense relationships and characters, sibling rivalry (as metaphor for embracing one's history or using it to build towards something new), and a suspenseful essence. This is a definitive classic for its depth and symbolism. The inexplicable need to excercise a tortured past and move hopefully with the present toward the future.
The Piano Lesson is a vivid experience of the irony that a drunken Wining Boy speaks of upon coming back to his neice Berneice's house: (to paraphrase) at the bar strangers treated me like family and at home my family treats me like stangers.
Very deep and ultimately satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Depiction of 1930s Black Migration
Review: This literary triumph by August Wilson is an excellent depiction of Black migration to the North in the early 20th century. It accurately portrays the intricacies of Black family life in American post emancipation years and the value placed on providing a better life in the North than was afforded earlier generations down South, while maintaining a sense of family values and cohesiveness. Berniece carries with pride the strong will and sense of propriety she has inherited from her ancestors. So too, does Boy Willie reflect his inherited traits, but rather that brash irresponsibility that comes with youth and, like his father, a burning desire to own something that should belong to him, but has been denied him far too long . . . for Boy Charles--the piano, for Boy Willie--Sutters land, which his ancestors had worked all their lives for the white man. Each character in this play serves as a reminder of the great variety of skills and talents with which the African slaves were endowed when they were brought to American shores. These talents they perfected in service to owners and masters who enjoyed the material benefits of their labor. Even at the cost of having a family unit torn asunder, try as they may, the masters were never able to take away the only thing the slaves brought over on the slave ships with them . . . these God-given talents. A must read for every African American, lest we forget.
Rating:
Summary: What happens when we forgive
Review: This play about African American family and history tells a story of a family with its ups and downs. More importantly, readers/viewers of the play will come away with a sense of what is important to many African Americans as a people, the power of forgiveness, and the importance of family unity.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerous past
Review: This play is meant to show us the struggles of a family that is not certain how to deal with its past. The major questions of the play "Will Boy Willie sell the piano?" "Will Lymon fit in up north?" "Will Avery get his loan?" were very common concerns of people in this time period.
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