Brighton Beach Memoirs [Hardcover]

Neil Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1984

Full Length, Comic Drama / 3m, 4f / Comb. Ints/Ext. Here is part one of Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy: a portrait of the writer as a young teen in 1937 living with his family in a crowded, lower middle-class Brooklyn walk-up. Eugene Jerome, standing in for the author, is the narrator and central character. Dreaming of baseball and girls, Eugene must cope with the mundane existence of his family life in Brooklyn: formidable mother, overworked father, and his worldly older brother Stanley. Throw into the mix his widowed Aunt Blanche, her two young (but rapidly aging) daughters and Grandpa the Socialist and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style. This bittersweet memoir evocatively captures the life of a struggling Jewish household where, as his father states "if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here." "Brings a fresh glow to Broadway...In many respects his funniest, richest and consequently the most affecting of his plays."-New York Daily News "Simultaneously poignant and funny. The characters are fully dimensional, believable... An outstanding show...the best seen on Broadway in too long a time."-Variety "Hilarious comedy...His finest play...A delightful and enriching experience."-CBS-TV

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a wonderful play, as can be expected from Neil Simon. It is thought-provoking, evocative, emotional and, of course, funny. --simplyaudiobooks.com --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

Neil Simon is one of the worlds most popular and acclaimed playwrights. His succession of Broadway hits includes Barefoot in the Park, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Prisoner of Second Avenue. He has won the Tony Award for Best Play three times, including Lost in Yonkers, which also garnered him the Pulitzer Prize. He is commercially the most successful playwright in history, with more than 30 shows on Broadway, including four that ran concurrently, a distinction afforded no other author. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 130 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (April 12, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394537394
• ISBN-13: 978-0394537399
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,111,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A play that has actual substance, February 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Paperback)

I am a lazy high school kid who reads as little as possible, and I read this play three times- taking away something new everytime. I must admit that I first saw it as the movie with Jonathon Silverman, but I had to read the script to get the full effect. I try to watch it with my friends, but none of them seem to have the attention span to watch something that didn't cost billions of dollars for a sinking ship (not to belittle "Titanic's" success, but it appeals to the people who are seeking easy entertainment that jumps up and bites you in the a$$). The way I started researching Neil Simon was through a school assignment- I won't lie. My research paper had to be on an American author that no one else was doing. I couldn't think of anyone to do after all my first choices were taken, so I started asking my teacher if I could do a songwriter. That would be too easy. I was planning on listening to John Mellencamp or Bruce Springsteen, who wrote my favorite song, "Blinded By the Light". Needless to say, my teacher vetoed these requests, so I asked her for some suggestions. She rattled off about a million names that I had never heard of. Then she said "Neil Simon" and it sounded familiar. I inquired more about him and she told me he was a playwrite. Later that night, I asked my dad if he had heard of this guy. He told me that he had, and that I had, too. He reminded me that we had "Brighton Beach Memoirs" on tape, and I immediately decided that I would do my paper on him. Many peoplewonder why a "gentile, athletic, boy from the midwest" would want to research him. Some of these same people dismiss the scene in which Eugene and Stanley discuss masturbation as a cheap laugh gauranteed by uncomfortability. Like the average kid I reply with a shrug of my shoulders, but it's obvious to me that Simon appeals to everyone who appreciates real life and the humor in it. As a teenage boy, I can identify with Eugene Morris Jerome who if he "were given the choice between a tryout with the New York Yankees, and actually seeing Nora's bare breasts for two and a half seconds would have some serious thinking to do." The play is a sharp realization by Eugene that the world doesn't rotate around puberty as he records how his family deals with not only "Stanley's principles, Nora's career, the loss of . . . (a) business, how to get Aunt Blanche married off and Laurie's fluttering heart, but at any minute there could be a knock on the door with thirty-seven relatives from Poland showing up looking for a place to live."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the best plays i've ever read, September 21, 2000

By 

Lauren Halvorsen (Connecticut United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Paperback)

"Brighton Beach Memoirs" was recommended to me by a teacher who was well aware of my reputation as a theater geek. I wasn't familiar with the work of Neil Simon, but after reading this play I am anxious to get my hands on more of his stuff. This play is simply brilliant - I often found myself lost in 1930's Brooklyn. Simon has created easily relatable characters, and his greatest triumph in character development is with that of Eugene Jerome, the protagonist on the brink of manhood. The play does it all - make you laugh, cry, think. It's one that is not to be missed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brighton Beach Memoirs, June 7, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Brighton Beach Memoirs (Paperback)

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a play about a fourteen-year-old boy growing up in 1937. The boy's name is Eugene Jerome. The play is divided into two acts. The first act is one night in Eugene's house. The second act is a week later in his house. Eugene is growing up in a hectic and eventful household of seven family members. He writes memoirs in his journal about his family and different events occurring in his life. During the play, Eugene share's his own personal thoughts with the audience. This really gives the audience an inside look on Eugene's life. I reall liked having this inside view. It really kept me into the book. Brighton Beach Memoirs was a real page turner. I highly recommend it!