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wildsorcerer's review
3.0
3.5/5*
I thought this play was very engrossing and brought up a lot of good themes about adolescents, pregnancy, and the freedom of expression of art, but I felt a larger point lacking. It was an excellent play to read, and I would love to see it live, but I came away from it unsure as to what Rapp was trying to say about the current world. Though many great and relevant topics were brought up, I found them underdeveloped at some points, and at times it seemed like Rapp lost sight of what story the piece was really trying to tell. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I thought it raised a lot of interesting points.
I thought this play was very engrossing and brought up a lot of good themes about adolescents, pregnancy, and the freedom of expression of art, but I felt a larger point lacking. It was an excellent play to read, and I would love to see it live, but I came away from it unsure as to what Rapp was trying to say about the current world. Though many great and relevant topics were brought up, I found them underdeveloped at some points, and at times it seemed like Rapp lost sight of what story the piece was really trying to tell. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I thought it raised a lot of interesting points.
mikifoo's review
4.0
This was a fantastic read. I wish I'd seen it live though! I was scrolling though Scribd after I'd searched for the word "play" and this one came up. I saved it to my reading list and didn't think I'd get to it. This morning, while trying to decide whether to read "Othello" or this, I decided to take a chance with Rapp's 2010 play. I'm so glad that I did!
The play focuses on the censorship of a book taught at a high school in the US. The Christian community argues the book should be banned. Many students, teachers and people in the community feel the book shouldn't be banned. What follows is a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and sometimes surreal story of two cult-like communities that battle over a book as if it has the power to influence teens in the community (and as we see, it does).
As the author, Tobin, attends a meeting to discuss whether or not the book should be banned, Tobin confesses: "I wasn't trying to say anything special. I don't even know that I completely understand the novel. All I know is that I wrote it because I had to. At least it came out feeling that way, like it was an important thing for me to do. I could have just as easily built a shed or moved a pile of bricks" (70).
To possibly further disappoint the attendees of the meeting, Tobin makes another confession. Before I regurgitate his speech, please let me preface with this: as an English major, my job was to interpret and critique written texts, so I found it even funnier to read the following excerpt in which Tobin acknowledges his awareness of how his work has been interpreted: "I think some very smart critics wrote some very sophisticated interpretations about what all the symbolism means in 'The Metal Children' and how it relates to the problems of today and all my skillful figurative leaps and all that, but the truth is, I was just writing because I had to and that's the way it came out" (70). Ahhh, so great!!
I highly recommend reading this and/or seeing it if it's ever produced on stage again! If anyone has any experience reading Rapp and has a favourite piece, please recommend it.
[Ebook, Scribd]
The play focuses on the censorship of a book taught at a high school in the US. The Christian community argues the book should be banned. Many students, teachers and people in the community feel the book shouldn't be banned. What follows is a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and sometimes surreal story of two cult-like communities that battle over a book as if it has the power to influence teens in the community (and as we see, it does).
As the author, Tobin, attends a meeting to discuss whether or not the book should be banned, Tobin confesses: "I wasn't trying to say anything special. I don't even know that I completely understand the novel. All I know is that I wrote it because I had to. At least it came out feeling that way, like it was an important thing for me to do. I could have just as easily built a shed or moved a pile of bricks" (70).
To possibly further disappoint the attendees of the meeting, Tobin makes another confession. Before I regurgitate his speech, please let me preface with this: as an English major, my job was to interpret and critique written texts, so I found it even funnier to read the following excerpt in which Tobin acknowledges his awareness of how his work has been interpreted: "I think some very smart critics wrote some very sophisticated interpretations about what all the symbolism means in 'The Metal Children' and how it relates to the problems of today and all my skillful figurative leaps and all that, but the truth is, I was just writing because I had to and that's the way it came out" (70). Ahhh, so great!!
I highly recommend reading this and/or seeing it if it's ever produced on stage again! If anyone has any experience reading Rapp and has a favourite piece, please recommend it.
[Ebook, Scribd]
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