Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2576)

Content

Becs (244 KP) rated A Raisin in the Sun in Books

Oct 2, 2019

They honestly need more books like this. When my husband found out that I was getting A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, he grew excited and he never does that unless it’s a science-related book. That was when I knew I was going to like this beautiful novel. When I started to read it, I rushed through it. Not in a “I just want to finish this book” way, more like “I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK AND I DON’T EVER WANT IT TO END” way. That says something, right?

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Genre: Literary Classic, Play, Drama, Fiction

Synopsis: First produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and hailed as a watershed in American drama. Not only a pioneering work by an African-American playwright – Lorraine Hansberry’s play was also a radically new representation of black life, resolutely authentic, fiercely unsentimental, and unflinching in its vision of what happens to people whose dreams are constantly deferred. In her portrait of an embattled Chicago family, Hansberry anticapted issues that range from generational clashes to the civil rights and women’s movements. She also posed the essential questions – about identity, justice, and moral responsibility – at the heart of those great struggles. The result is an American classic.

Audience/Reading Level: Middle School +

Interests: Plays, dramas, literary classics, racial segregation, women’s movement, 50s era.

Point of View: Third Person Omniscient

Difficulty Reading: Not at all, I rushed through it because I loved it so much! As in some of Shakespeares plays, you don’t get stuck on the general language of the era it was written, as it’s written close to a book you would get from this era.

Promise: “Award-winning drama of the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America–and changed American theater forever.” – It did. 🙂

Insights: I love reading plays as it’s a way to step out of a comfort zone of reading Young Adult novels. It gives me a chance to dip into my theater/acting side and use what I’ve learned from theatre classes. A Raisin in the Sun is a well-written American classic that honestly should be read in every school from middle school and up. The lessens that are taught throughout the play are subtle yet obvious which creates a background that we can use in our every day life.

Ah-Ha Moment: The moment that Beneatha came into the picture and was a total feminist. Man, she’s my favorite character besides Mama (Lena Younger) and her little plant.

Favorite Quotes: “Beneatha: Love him? There is nothing left to love. Mama: There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. (Looking at her) Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ’cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so! when you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”

“Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t acept. It’s not important. I am not going out and commit crimes or be immoral because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get so tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only Man, and it’s he who makes miracles!”

What will you gain: A haunting yet revealing play that will be as fresh of a read today, as it was in the 50’s.

Aesthetics: The entire play. The cover. The characters. The underlying meaning beneath it all. The era it was written and is based off of. Just everything about this little book.

“I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!”
“Finish your eggs first.”

Kudos

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Guncle in Books

Jul 22, 2021

The Guncle

Steven Rowley | 2021 | LGBTQ+, Romance

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A beautiful, funny, and sweet story of finding hope after loss

Patrick and Sara were best friends in college. Then she married his brother, had two kids, and life went on. Until Sara dies, leaving Patrick's niece and nephew motherless. Patrick has always adored Maisie and Grant--for small time periods. But when his brother Greg asks Patrick, aka "Gay Uncle Patrick," or "GUP," to take the kids for a bit, he's faced with a dilemma. It's time to actually step up. So GUP and the kids head to Patrick's house in Palm Springs, where Patrick leads the life of a very single (and gay) slightly faded actor. Once there, he institutes the "Guncle Rules" and they set out trying to survive. But as Patrick bumbles his way through parenting and trying to help his little charges heal, he realizes they may be helping them more than he could have ever imagined.

"He promised when they'd met that he would never let her go. And then life intervened. She went north and married his brother. He went west and found fame on TV. And slowly, over time, he did. Let go."

Oh this book. I'm not sure a book has ever made me cry so many times, yet I loved it so much. It's often sad but also incredibly funny and heartwarming. Rowley does something special here, capturing Patrick, Maisie, and Grant so beautifully and authentically. This is a lovely story about family and coming together after loss.

There's not much I can say to do this wonderful book justice. The Guncle is made up of a million little moments--obviously Maisie and Grant are hurting, but you learn Patrick is as well. Who needs who more? Patrick is bitingly caustic, and he talks to the kids as if they are tiny adults. But the warmth and love that comes across in his humor--that he uses as his shield--is so clear. The book is a quiet and beautiful journey of all three characters learning to live again, and it's so well-done. It's such a tender and honest story. And the acceptance that comes across here--oh, it just warmed my heart. (A scene where Maisie didn't want to wear her bathing suit, and Patrick didn't force her, but let her wear a t-shirt instead, promising to buy her a rash guard--well it brought tears to my eyes.)

I promise if you give this sweet book a try, you will love it. I love Patrick, Maisie, and Grant. I adored the welcoming message of the book. It's a sad premise, but a hopeful book. 4.5+ stars.