Brighton Beach Memoirs [Paperback]

Neil Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1995

Meet Eugene Jerome and his family, fighting the hard times and sometimes each other—with laughter, tears, and love. It is 1937 in Brooklyn during the heart of the Depression. Fifteen-year-old Eugene Jerome lives in Brighton Beach with his family. He is witty, perceptive, obsessed with sex, and forever fantasizing his baseball-diamond triumphs as star pitcher for the New York Yankees. As our guide through his "memoirs," Eugene takes us through a series of trenchant observations and insights that show his family meeting life's challenges with pride, spirit, and a marvelous sense of humor. But as World War II looms ever closer, Eugene sees his own innocence slipping away as the first important era of his life ends—and a new one begins.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Humorous and poignant—something to celebrate! Neil Simon''s love letter to his past. … Brighton Beach Memoirs belongs to the family genre where the passwords are forgive and remember."
—Time

"Neil Simon''s richest play."
—New York Daily News

About the Author

Since 1960, a Broadway season without a Neil Simon comedy or musical has been a rare one. His first play was Come Blow Your Horn, followed by the musical Little Me. During the 1966-67 season, Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, and The Star-Spangled Girl were all running simultaneously; in the 1970-71 season, Broadway theatergoers had their choice of Plaza Suite, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and Promises, Promises. Next came The Gingerbread Lady, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, California Suite, Chapter Two, the musical They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Brighton Beach Memoirs (which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play of 1983), Biloxi Blues (which won the Tony Award for Best Play of 1985), and the female version of The Odd Couple.

Mr. Simon began his writing career in television, writing The Phil Silvers Show and Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. He has also written the screen adaptations of Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, California Suite, Chapter Two, and I Ought to Be in Pictures. His original screenplays include The Out-of-Towners, The Hearbreak Kid, Murder by Death, The Goodbye Girl, The Cheap Detective, Seems Like Old Times, Only When I Laugh, Max Dugan Returns, and The Slugger's Wife. He received the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for Lost in Yonkers.

The author lives in California and New York. He is married to Diane Lander and has three daughters, Ellen, Nancy, and Bryn.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Plume (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452275288
• ISBN-13: 978-0452275287
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,985 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!