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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
Recently I’ve read a nonfiction love letter to the theatre. This feels like the love letter from the world of fiction. An audacious premise which seems both far-fetched and perfectly reasonable throughout the book. It slightly lost me in the middle, but the last 100 pages were fantastic. This book takes you through every emotion of the classics. It also demonstrates the impact of theatre. If you engage with theatre, you grow in empathy, perspective and ultimately love. This book has all 3 in spades.
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Summary: This is about two Syracusans, Gelon and Lampo, who decide to put on a play using the Athenian soldiers their town has captured. This is instigated mainly by Gelon who has a love of theater and poetry. He uses the Athenians because they come from Athens which has a large theater presence and is the home of most of the playwrights so they will know the lines and also know of new plays.
Favorite Quote: The Athenians shuffle about, gripping their costumes for comfort. It seems that they’re whispering to one another, but when I get close, I hear that it’s only the words of the play, that they’re muttering the lines to themselves like a prayer, and each is saying a different part, some at the beginning of Medea, others at the end, or in the middle of Trojan Women, and again I feel that creeping sense of the looseness of time in an endless song. (pg. 187)
Review: The tone of this book is really strange and I've seen some other reviews comment on it. There is a lot of dark subject matter, like war, family members dying, starvation, etc., but the general tone is fairly lighthearted and humorous. Once you get it into, I think the tone works, and if you have the American cover with the ancient bust and googly eyes, I think that helps to prime you for the tone, but I do see where it could throw some people off. There were also times where I got a bit annoyed with the main character, Lampo, I think somewhat due to the differences in tone. Lampo tends to be the more jokey and flip one, which when you're dealing with life and death situations feels out of place. He also makes a lot of bad decisions throughout and even though he would know what he was doing was wrong, it never really felt like he grew from them. The very end chapters also felt strange, I think because of the tonal shift again, because those sections suddenly went from hopeful and happy to serious and sad. The book does that shift throughout and there are times when it works better than others.
Favorite Quote: The Athenians shuffle about, gripping their costumes for comfort. It seems that they’re whispering to one another, but when I get close, I hear that it’s only the words of the play, that they’re muttering the lines to themselves like a prayer, and each is saying a different part, some at the beginning of Medea, others at the end, or in the middle of Trojan Women, and again I feel that creeping sense of the looseness of time in an endless song. (pg. 187)
Review: The tone of this book is really strange and I've seen some other reviews comment on it. There is a lot of dark subject matter, like war, family members dying, starvation, etc., but the general tone is fairly lighthearted and humorous. Once you get it into, I think the tone works, and if you have the American cover with the ancient bust and googly eyes, I think that helps to prime you for the tone, but I do see where it could throw some people off. There were also times where I got a bit annoyed with the main character, Lampo, I think somewhat due to the differences in tone. Lampo tends to be the more jokey and flip one, which when you're dealing with life and death situations feels out of place. He also makes a lot of bad decisions throughout and even though he would know what he was doing was wrong, it never really felt like he grew from them. The very end chapters also felt strange, I think because of the tonal shift again, because those sections suddenly went from hopeful and happy to serious and sad. The book does that shift throughout and there are times when it works better than others.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Väldigt intressant POV, inte en grekisk myt retelling som man är så van vid, utan två helt random snubbar som ba chillar. Och språket wow det är exakt som vi nu även om det är över 2400 år sedan, vilket är jättekul
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes