Reviews

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts

Only show reviews with written explanations

jay_the_hippie's review against another edition

4.0

Now I'm all worried about the author's childhood. Did he experience any of the things in this play? Well, I guess it's not really childhood, since the "children" are in their thirties and forties. Anyway, the family relationships are... Let's say "not entirely healthy" as a kind of euphamism. Or hyperbolic understatement. I'd probably have to use curse words to get the full extent of the disfunctionality, actually. Which is rather what has me worried; I am considering (planning?) auditioning to perform in this play next May (the performances are in May; I don't know the audition schedule yet). Should I be considering acting in a play that I'm not sure I'd want some of my people to come see? While I think the answer is "yes," because the characters are all so well drawn -- I mean, there's not a single minor character in this whole thing -- and the story is very intense, but it does make me take a moment to consider.

Family. What can you do about it?

Reread in 2018, preparing to audition for this show next summer.

raymondrea's review against another edition

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5.0

The only Tracy Letts I've read previously was Bug and so curious about this awarded script. Fantastic writing about family that rings very true while being embellished to the point of satirical comedy.

jdgcreates's review against another edition

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2.0

After a two week break from this, I found I didn't want to go back to its dark world of family troubles without the "payoff" of seeing it at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And so I bid it adieu.

aluttke's review against another edition

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5.0

A suicide brings a family together, where everyone has a secret and no one is safe from the vicious, pill-popping mother. For me, my favorite character has to be Violet Weston. Of course, I played her which makes me bias! However, she does have some quirky moments, even though she is just downright mean to her family, especially her daughters who just want to be loved. She is the mother you love to hate. I would recommend this play to anyone who wants a glimpse into a majorly dysfunctional family.

laurinsreadthat's review against another edition

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2.0

I'd give this a 2.75 if I could

This was an interesting read. The characters have a lot to mine into and you could argue for ages what it was really about and why the characters do what they do / are who they are. But when you get right down to it, this is just a really messed up and perhaps fatally (literally in this case) flawed family. - Experiencing and going through life as best they can - but as a reader rather than a watcher of this play I think it then makes it hard to like any of them, there is some humour wrapped in this dark text and some great ideas about life in America for families who had it rough but achieved the American dream only for it not to be the dream they wanted in life at all in a way - and it makes it interesting to read and you can see where the award would have come from - but it doesn't necessarily make it likeable, so I'm giving it a 2.75, maybe the more I read this one, the more I will learn and gain from it but for now, it was okay but not quite up to the 'I liked it' standard on goodreads.

I did really like Karen's entrance and introduction - see comment below on why - it was quite the way to get introduced!