Reviews - A Raisin in the Sun

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2.16k reviews for:

A Raisin in the Sun

Lorraine Hansberry

3.91 AVERAGE

bbecerra's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

imanisun's review against another edition

5.0

Wow. We just finished reading this, me and my class. As a whole I don't think we really got it but I did. This book was awesome and I'm glad people appreciated it enough to make two movies out of it. Truly an amazing book. And even though I've read it a couple times now, I think I'll read it again someday! :)

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Reading this anew for a college seminar. I love the wit that I never really noticed Hansberry wrote into these characters. But more than even this, is the complexity of everyone -from Lena Younger to even little Travis. Amiri Baraka really pointed this out in a new version of the book, that Lena Younger as the family matriarch doesn't merely represent black conservatism. How could she when she is literally willing to risk making a home in an all white, blue collar neighborhood? Lena is a rebel in her own right and this recognition and complication of her as a character for me really brings to light how delicately and deliberately Hansberry wrote her characters. All these years after reading it, I've never loved so deeply a play...and I also don't think there is a play that quite encapsulates the spirit of urbanized Black Americans like this one does.

nerdgirlonfire's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

noirla1939's review against another edition

4.0

It's been awhile since I read a play and I'm so happy that I picked up Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun because it is one of those great American plays that captures what America is about, the struggle and turmoil of such a country on a family, the harsh realities of the American Dream. It's a play that anybody in America can relate to and it's a testament to Hansberry for being able to make a play about a black American family be universal and yet speak so honestly about that community.

I was thoroughly engaged from beginning to end as I followed the lives of the Younger family. There's the matriarch of the family, Lena Younger, whose husband's death leaves her and her family insurance money that can help them achieve their dreams. Her daughter Beneatha wants to be a doctor. Her son Walter Lee wants to start up a liquor business and his wife Ruth along with their son Travis just want a good home to live in that is better than the dingy apartment they all currently reside in. Together, they represent so many families in America in search of something more yet struggling to obtain it because of the harsh realities of life.

Hansberry's play is very readable and engaging, but it's also very nuanced and sophisticated, tackling various themes in addition to the struggle of the American Dream. There is talk about racism, segregation, money, and the hard choices we must make to maintain our dignity in the face of the evil forces out there that try to undermine who we are. Even though A Raisin in the Sun was written during the Civil Rights Era, it feels so relevant to today when many people in America still struggle to live a quality life in a country that makes such a bold promise for one.