Book of Days: A Play [Paperback]

Lanford Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000

Acclaimed by Frank Rich as "a writer who illuminates the deepest dramas of American life with poetry and compassion," Lanford Wilson is one of the most esteemed contemporary American playwrights of our time. Nowhere is this more evident than in his latest play, Book of Days, which has won the Best Play Award from the American Theater Critics Association. Book of Days is set in a small town dominated by a cheese plant, a fundamentalist church, and a community theater. When the owner of the cheese plant dies mysteriously in a hunting accident, Ruth, his bookkeeper, suspects murder. Cast as Joan of Arc in a local production of George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan, Ruth takes on the attributes of her fictional character and launches into a one-woman campaign to see justice done. In Book of Days, Lanford Wilson uses note-perfect language to create characters who are remarkable both for their comic turns and for their enormous depth. "Mr. Wilson's cosmic consciousness, intense moral concern, sense of human redemption and romantic effusion have climbed to a new peak." -- Alvin Klein, The New York Times; "A significant addition to the Lanford Wilson canon . . . his best work since Fifth of July . . . Book of Days manages to combine Wilson's signature character-based whimsy with an atypically strong narrative book and politically charged underpinnings." -- Chris Jones, Variety; "Book of Days is lively storytelling by one of our best playwrights." -- Lawrence DeVine, Detroit Free Press.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st edition (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802137415
• ISBN-13: 978-0802137418
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,017,326 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new masterpiece, November 24, 2000

By 

Scott E. Miller "author, director, composer" (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Book of Days: A Play (Paperback)

I saw this play in St. Louis and was astounded by it. After the first act, you realize you're watching a well-wrought play, populated by strong, quirky characters, interesting situations, and fascinating, complex relationships, all the things you expect from Wilson. But it doesn't seem like the best play he's ever written, as quite a few people have claimed. With works like Fifth of July, Burn This, and Redwood Curtain in his canon, Best Ever is quite a claim. Then you see Act II. And you realize they might just be right. All the groundwork laid in Act I pays off in such abundantly satisfying ways. And there's so much more to this play than you thought. There is the temptation to fault Book of Days for its loose construction and seemingly scattershot laying out of scenes, but that's where its real beauty lies, in the poetry of the ordinary, in the unexpected turns life takes, in the randomness of living. The organization of the play is in its characters and in its themes of ambition, the need to know, and the fear of change. With plainly theatrical devices sprinkled throughout the show - characters narrating the show, watching from the sides, stepping out of scenes to directly address the audience - this is not trying to be kitchen sink drama. It is a play uniquely American and just as uniquely Lanford Wilson. It is what it says it is, a book of days, a diary, a story to be told, with characters at once good and bad, admirable and not. It's a snapshot of small town American life at the end of the millennium, in some ways not so different from big city life, in some ways light years away.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Material, February 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Book of Days: A Play (Paperback)

Landford Wilson's Book of Days is a real play. Nothing fake about it. First off, his characters are so in deep and contrast with eachother that it makes it a great read. Most of the first act is basically a charming exposition until it nose-dives into a dark and twisted conflict (sorry, read the play). There is a lot of language, however, but it makes a profound impact in what is being told in the story. The way Wilson has each character being a member of the chorus pulls you into the play. The ending is the best: it has you thinking that this could be happening in your own back yard. It can also be debated that this is in fact a tragedy instead of drama. Read this play!
This was a very hard play to put down. In matter of fact, I didn't.