Cyrano de Bergerac (Bantam Classics reissue) Review

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Cyrano de Bergerac (Bantam Classics reissue) ReviewI've been around theater for quite a while, and I was lucky enough to be in this play twice, once as Cyrano. I've done Shakespeare, O'Neill, Chekhov...and I've never been in a play that comes close to this in terms of dramatic force.
The fashion in French theater at the time it was written was simple domestic drama: husbands and wives and their various conflicts. This play exploded on the scene and there was extremely strong public reaction. (I think there may even have been riots.)
For modern American audiences, I must confess, it's a pretty long haul. Even with some judicious cutting, it's tough to get the thing down close to three hours. But what a ride! Poetry, fight scenes, comedy, tears...it's just incredible.
In all the plays I've done, I've never done one that comes so close to, literally, the meaning of life. Why are we here? What makes human beings act the way they do? Why do people try things that are clearly impossible? It's all in there.
I knew someone in college who gave this paperback edition to everyone he knew as a gift, because it spoke so strongly to him.
Looking back on it now, I'm amazed that I was able to memorize all the text, because I'm convinced that this is the longest role in Western theater...longer than Hamlet, I think.
Hooker's translation has been called the greatest translation of poetry ever, and while I'm not a poetry student, I can agree. Squishing the 6-foot French lines into 5-foot English lines and still retaining the dramatic flow must have been a daunting task.
Anyway, it's the greatest play I have ever seen, read or performed.Cyrano de Bergerac (Bantam Classics reissue) Overview

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The Prince and the Pauper (Bantam Classics) Review

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The Prince and the Pauper (Bantam Classics) ReviewThis story has been a favorite of mine since I first read it as a child. I have re-read it many, many times, most recently to two of my children (who also enjoyed it), and it continues to be rich and engaging. Since the language is true to the era of the story, however, it may put some readers off. Others will find that the archaic language enhances the tale.
A beggar (Tom Canty) and a prince (Edward Tudor), who look so alike as to be twins, meet and swap clothes for a lark. But an accident of judgment stretches the lark into an adventure, and the adventure into a nightmarish struggle of life and death, honor and dishonor.
Hasn't everyone wished to be royalty at some point in their lives? And especially if you were the poorest of the poor, like Tom Canty, wouldn't it be your dearest wish as a child? This is a great and yet fearful adventure, superbly detailed and believable. It was carefully written in such a manner that genuine history leaves it possible. One of Twain's best ever.The Prince and the Pauper (Bantam Classics) Overview

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The Return of the Native (Bantam Classics) Review

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The Return of the Native (Bantam Classics) ReviewThe CD audio book of the Return of the Native actually deserves to be described as amazing. The lyrical prose of Hardy, combines with the incomparable voice and performance of Alan Rickman, to make this a genuine treasure.
Rickman, in his limited interviews, has repeatedly referred to himself as an instrument. In this product, the only part of that instrument he could utilize was his voice. It is more than enough: the pictures and action spring vividly to life. Listening to his performance is sheer joy, and it rapidly makes you realize how little his capability has been tapped by film - where the whole "instrument" is utilized.
I would give this product the highest recommendation.
The Return of the Native (Bantam Classics) Overview

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Robinson Crusoe (Bantam Classic) Review

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Robinson Crusoe (Bantam Classic) ReviewRobinson Crusoe is best taken at two levels, the literal adventure story of survival on an isolated island and as a metaphor for finding one's way through life. I recommend that everyone read the book who is willing to look at both of those levels. If you only want the adventure story, you may not be totally satisfied. The language, circumstances, and attitudes may put you off so that you would prefer to be reading a Western or Space-based adventure story with a more modern perspective.
Few books require anyone to rethink the availability and nature of the fundamentals of life: Water, food, shelter, clothing, and entertainment. Then having become solitary in our own minds as a reader, Defoe adds the extraordinary complication of providing a companion who is totally different from Crusoe. This provides the important opportunity to see Crusoe's civilized limitations compared to Friday's more natural ones. The comparisons will make for thought-provoking reading for those who are able to overcome the stalled thinking that the educated, civilized route is always the best.
One of the things that I specially liked about the book is the Crusoe is an ordinary person in many ways, making lots of mistakes, and having lots of setbacks. Put a modern Superhero (from either the comic books, adventure or spy novels, or the movies) into this situation, and it would all be solved in a few minutes with devices from the heel of one's shoe. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I liked the trial-and-error explorations. They seemed just like everyday life, and made the book's many lessons come home to me in a more fundamental way.
Have a good solitary trip through this book!Robinson Crusoe (Bantam Classic) Overview

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A Midsummer Night's Dream Review

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A Midsummer Night's Dream ReviewOne of Shakespeare's most enjoyable works, "A Midsummer's Nights Dream" is the story of four lovers (either loved, in love, or both) who travel into an "enchanted" forest, filled with magical fairies who play tricks on them and even themselves. Meanwhile, a hapless stage production prepares for a performance at the Duke's wedding. All storylines lead to an enjoyable resolution climaxing with the hilarious performance of "The Most Lamentable Comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe." This is one of Shakespeare's funniest and consequently is one of his most univerally-enjoyed plays. I recommend it for anyone with any interest at all in Shakespeare's works.A Midsummer Night's Dream Overview

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Fan-Tan Review

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Fan-Tan ReviewYou're supposed to be willing to give every book 50 pages or so before giving up on it, right? I seldom give up on novels and usually read the whole thing... usually there is some enjoyment to be had even in a below average book, ya know?
Well, Fan-Tan threw me on the mat and made me say uncle. I can't believe anyone published it. It's like the product of a hundred drunk monkeys with typewriters.
Let me treat you with a portion that really blew my mind.
"His memory was a mess, as full of giant holes as an old sock. Scotland was an accent he loved. On the other hand, he thought a lot about the future. "That is one of my characteristics, Lorenzo," he said firmly to the bum of a Portuguee who occupied the bunk above, all aswamp in his noisome reflections."
You may believe I have taken that passage out of context and this is a great book. You may think I am a simple minded fool who can't handle stream of consiousness writing.
However, I think it is a crime againist humanity that those sentences happened IN A ROW. Also, "on the other hand" needs to have what was in the first hand in the general proximity of the phrase.
I couldn't get very far in this book.Fan-Tan Overview

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Sara Crewe (Large Print) Review

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Sara Crewe (Large Print) ReviewI first read Sara Crewe in an old St. Nicholas Magazine for Children book from 1888 when I was 11 years old. It was serialized in three parts. Not as well known or as long as Frances Hodgson Burnett's later The Little Princess, I still prefer this version. Sara is enchanting, more believable than in the later version. I was later abused from the time I was about 12 to maybe 15 years of age,and Sara helped me get through those awful years. I used to pretend that I was a princess, too, that although there was misery and loneliness in my life I could, like Sara, rise above it. I'm nearly 37 now, and I still consider Sara Crewe my favorite fictional character. Every child should read this.Sara Crewe (Large Print) Overview

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