A Streetcar Named Desire
Reviews
It was better then the great Gatsby. The husband is a ass
So insane??? Especially for the time it was written. Favorite book and movie I fear
reading ahead for english >> i cannot with the plot but the writing is so so good.
has many heavy topics and brief.
What brutality, what beautiful, poignant brutality. If it weren't for those ridiculous stage directions it'd be too much. Oh and I kept thinking this would make such a good novel.
Filled with iconic quotes, dynamic characters and a tragic story, A Streetcar Named Desire is meant to be seen, not read. But I enjoyed this read and could hear the voices of the characters come to life. This play has a lot of symbolism, from the loss of youth to the tragedies of womanhood. There are layers to it, and I found myself reading between the lines to discover more from the text than if I were watching this play. It has depth, and though it is tragic, there is beauty here.
It was better then the great Gatsby
i think i liked cat in a hot tin roof better
So very heartbreaking. Not only a picture of the dissolution of a person, but also a cross-sectional look at social standards, cruelty, and of love.
You're gonna cry. I know I am.
(4.5) God this was good but really, really sad. Be warned: at least half of the scenes end with someone crying. Still, Streetcar is a great modern tragedy in most senses, like The Heart of the Matter, although Aristotle would find it better because Blanche is even more pathetic than Scobie. Williams is definitely a master of modern theatre.
Probably nothing new to say about this? I love the dialogue (some truly beautiful, poetic lines) and the major themes. It’s decidedly dated in some ways while remaining scarily relevant in others. The patriarchy certainly hasn’t gotten any better.
It will only be worth your time and effort if you read it for more than it is. If you go into with a shallow vision it'll be stupid and bland; however, if you approach it with an open mind and delve deeper into it, it will be great.
I listened to the audible. Not what I was expecting! I was expecting an audible book but instead got an audible theater. The story was well written and well acted. Blanche shows up at her sister Stella’s apartment unexpected in New Orleans. As the sisters renew their relationship, Blanche’s history begins to be revealed and it sends her down a rabbit hole.
literally traumatizing
So very heartbreaking. Not only a picture of the dissolution of a person, but also a cross-sectional look at social standards, cruelty, and of love.
Well, that was just horrible. It wasn't bad obviously but it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience to read this.
I listened to this as an audiobook and I think I'll listen to every play as an audiobook from here on out. It was a great way to really feel what was going on. I thought A Streetcar Named Desire was interesting and I can definitely see why it's considered one of the classics!
it was ok but the ending disappointed me a lot... I'm just not a play reader i guess:/
Read this for my English Lit A-level and I just couldn't get enough of it. Each week the entire class wanted to read more and more. Such a short enjoyable play.
Alex lent me this book to read and I actually really enjoyed it. It was fast and simple and had a very interesting plot with weird characters woven through. Nice time.
A Streetcar Named Desire was one of those classic films I’ve had on my “to watch” list since I can remember. Although I’m a Brando fan, I didn’t want to watch him in the role that made him a star without having read the play first. When I heard that the National Theatre was going to stream the new adaptation, I thought it was the perfect time to do a triple review of sorts. Here’s what I experienced: I loved the play, which I believe was way ahead of its time, so I had high expectations for the movie, and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I loved it even more, seeing it come to life through amazing interpretations, particularly Vivien Leigh’s. The next day I watched the most recent version, and I have to admit I didn’t like that one. It almost felt disrespectful, but I can’t quite grasp why. I think the adaptation tried too hard to be modern, which made it somewhat charicaturesque. Every play by Tennessee Williams I read confirms that he may be one of my favorite playwrights. I definitely recommend the play and the movie, especially read and watched in that order, just like I did.
audra mcdonald is a queen. we been knew
Pretty sure we were made to read this in high school where I did not absorb or clue in to any of it. I really enjoyed this, and now would love to see it on the stage.
Highlights
BLANCHE: Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think.
MITCH: It sure brings it out in people.
BLANCHE: The little there is belongs to people who have experienced some sorrow.
BLANCHE: What you are talking about is brutal desire - just -Desirel - the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another..
STELLA: Haven't you ever ridden on that streetcar?
BLANCHE: It brought me here.- Where I'm not wanted and where Im ashamed to be...
[More laughter and shouts of parting come fromn the men. STANLEY throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfjying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his ca, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.]
Stanley is a red flag. Comes across and intense and sexual. Described as animalistic.
[They stare at each other across the yellow-checked linoleum of the table. BLANCHE Slowly nods her head and STELLA looks slowly down at her hands folded on the table. The music of the blue piano' grows louder BLANCHE touches her handkerchief to her forehead.]
the blue piano music links part of the plays together, helps to emphasise the melancholic tone. Adds to the tension
STELLA: You'll get along fine together, if you'l just try not to - well compare him with men that we went out with at home. BLANCHE: Is he so - different?
1) dramatic irony 2) emphasises the separation between upper and lower classes, and how society in the 1950s frowned upon couples of different classes
BLANCHE: You see I still have that awful vanity about my looks even now that my looks are slipping! [She laughs nervously and glances at STELLA for reassurance.]
She is obsessed with her own looks, scared to loose them. That’s why she is never directly in the light (in stage directions)
BLANCHE: No, one's my limit.
appearance vs reality theme, the constant lies blanche says all build up on her secret past
BLANCHE: Oh, I'm not going to be hypocritical, I'm going to be honestly critical about it! Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture - Only Poe! Only Mr Edgar Allan Poe!- could do it justice! Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir! [She laughs.]
southern gothic - skl annotations
This book appears on the shelf 2017-popsugar-challenge
