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william_sg's review against another edition
4.0
1. Fences
2. Jitney
3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
4. The Piano Lesson
5. Joe Turner’s Come & Gone
All over the place. Very weird. Wilson loves his shock endings but this is the first one that felt unearned. Loomis is too much of an enigma. He feels a bit underdeveloped.
2. Jitney
3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
4. The Piano Lesson
5. Joe Turner’s Come & Gone
All over the place. Very weird. Wilson loves his shock endings but this is the first one that felt unearned. Loomis is too much of an enigma. He feels a bit underdeveloped.
discostell's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
rose_peterson's review against another edition
3.0
In college, I had a professor named Dr. Swan who taught a survey of lit through early modernity course. What most would call inaccessible and boring literature, Dr. Swan brought to life through what he called "participatory imagination," encouraging us to imagine ourselves as members of the troops at Tilbury, listening to Queen Elizabeth I's speech, smelling her urine-soaked skirts.
I know I need to bring my participatory imagination to these Wilson plays I've been reading, but I feel like I need a Dr. Swan to guide me through. I'm finding it difficult to know the context and nuance of the two plays I've read so far. I'm picking up on common themes but also feel I'm missing out on key points.
I coincidentally found someone else on Goodreads who is also tackling August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle in 2021, and he mentioned struggling through the first two but finding his groove with Ma Rainey, so I'm hoping a similar thing happens for me.
I know I need to bring my participatory imagination to these Wilson plays I've been reading, but I feel like I need a Dr. Swan to guide me through. I'm finding it difficult to know the context and nuance of the two plays I've read so far. I'm picking up on common themes but also feel I'm missing out on key points.
I coincidentally found someone else on Goodreads who is also tackling August Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle in 2021, and he mentioned struggling through the first two but finding his groove with Ma Rainey, so I'm hoping a similar thing happens for me.
meg_thebrave's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fascinating play, and I liked it. I didn't love it, but August Wilson is a beautiful writer. I loved the motifs of the shining man, freedom versus binding, the road, and finding your individual song.
Final side note stage directions: "Bertha moves about the kitchen as though blessing it and chasing away the huge sadness that seems to envelop it. It is a dance and a demonstration of her own magic, her own remedy that is centuries old and to which she is connected by the muscles of her heart and the blood's memory." Definitely an important play to read, and engaging enough that I will probably read the rest of Wilson's plays.
Final side note stage directions: "Bertha moves about the kitchen as though blessing it and chasing away the huge sadness that seems to envelop it. It is a dance and a demonstration of her own magic, her own remedy that is centuries old and to which she is connected by the muscles of her heart and the blood's memory." Definitely an important play to read, and engaging enough that I will probably read the rest of Wilson's plays.
bloom_18's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
bwguinig's review against another edition
4.0
Certainly, it's of note that as you read/see more of the Century Cycle, expectations and experiences change. I am reading/watching with no order or purpose and am now almost at the halfway point. I have been conditioned to expect the "shattering" climax without necessarily knowing what it will be. Joe Turner was no exception to that.
I love the stage setting and directions from the text. The penultimate parenthetical gives crazy, revelatory description that I am certain an actor would love in its detail but perhaps dread in its execution.
Like the other Wilson works I have read, the language of the conversation sits nicely between conveying both the time period of the decade as well as a timelessness of message, relations, and interactions among the characters. Zonia's last line of dialogue is heartbreaking.
As an individual play, Joe Turner is certainly powerful. As a part of the entire Cycle, Wilson's work feels important and necessary.
I love the stage setting and directions from the text. The penultimate parenthetical gives crazy, revelatory description that I am certain an actor would love in its detail but perhaps dread in its execution.
Like the other Wilson works I have read, the language of the conversation sits nicely between conveying both the time period of the decade as well as a timelessness of message, relations, and interactions among the characters. Zonia's last line of dialogue is heartbreaking.
As an individual play, Joe Turner is certainly powerful. As a part of the entire Cycle, Wilson's work feels important and necessary.
henkoff's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
alyssaarch's review
emotional
reflective
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
3.5
munchin's review against another edition
2.0
You know, as much as I love the work of August Wilson (Fences is the greatest play I've ever read. Period.), I just hated reading this. I'd bet it's fantastic staged, but this was no fun at all.