Reviews with content warning for Death - Our Town

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

10 reviews

chickaboogawah's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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pomoevareads's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I read this short play in anticipation of Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake which I am reading now. I am certain there is a surge of people reading this play again or for the first time because of the references to it in Patchett’s book.

Do we appreciate life while living it? That is the crux of the play, told in three acts. Wilder has brought the viewer/reader to Grover’s Corners, a fictional town of 2642 people to view everyday life over three time periods and life events. Narrowing its’ focus on two families, the Gibbs and the Webbs, we are party to the mundanes of daily life as well as marriage, love and death.

Wilder has aptly and creatively spoken so much about human existence in a relatively short play. I loved the use of minimal characters and a set that requires some imagination from the audience.

Overall, I am happy to have read this play for its own quality and merit and look forward to returning to it in my mind while reading Tom Lake.

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laurenleigh's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Unclear how I got this far in life never having read, saw, or performed this play, but here we are. My mom said it was a prerequisite read before the new Ann Patchett book. The first two acts were...truly rather boring to read. I can appreciate that the bare bones set and the lack of props would have been avant garde at the time this was written, but it doesn’t have the same impact nowadays. The third act is where the entire message lies. I can imagine that a live performance could make this act much more poignant, but simply reading it wasn’t all that revolutionary to me. I think there’s something in the forced “old timey” quality that distances me. Like It’s a Wonderful Life, where there’s a sort of cheesiness that dilutes the impact for me.

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