Customer Reviews

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a superbly written play about that most basic of human issues, the desire to communicate honestly and openly with someone that you care about. At its core, Tennessee Williams' masterpiece is really about nothing more than that. Everyone wants and needs someone to listen to, and accept, you.
All of Williams' plays are about lonely people when you come right down to it. However, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is unique in that these lonely characters are part of a large family, and at times are literally tripping over each other. What makes us lonely is our inability to communicate with those that we love. It is in that essential human drive that Williams creates the tragedy of this piece. A father knows his son is a closeted gay man; he loves him, but can't get the son to believe or accept that. A wife knows the truth about her husband, but can't make herself believe it. (Actually that last one applies to two wives in the play, for different reasons.) A man faces death, in essence alone, because he can't admit how terrified he is. And the list goes on. These are the stories of the Pollitt family of the Mississippi Delta. Those particulars are different for all of us, but the essential worries and fears of the members of this family are universal, and have been at the heart of a powerful drama for over 50 years.
The witting of this play is luminous and gorgeous. In fact, at times it reads like poetry. However, the power in this piece is also due in large part to the structure of this three act play. The first act is almost a solo from the character of Maggie. The second act is a painful and terrifying duet from the characters of Brick and Big Daddy, and the final act is the ensemble number that builds, and then ends on a slow drawn out note.
If you see "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in performance it is a long play, and at times painful. You will not feel the same intensity unless you let yourself sit down and devour it in one gulp. Read the play in a day, and you will come closer to approximating seeing it in performance than you otherwise would. In the best of possible worlds, you will read it, and then a month or so later see it in a well done performance.
This play is the pinnacle of American Drama. You should know it. Make that the case if it is not so!

There must be a price to pay for honesty. This "cat" says what she wants to say no matter how much this may hurt her family. She admits she's an opportunist and thats how one should live in a postmodern life as this play took place. Money and wealth are tools how she and other characters can survive in the "hot tin roof" and society in larger extant. Pride and prestige are goals the characters aim to shoot at. Lies and flattery are ways to achieve the goals and set all dreams on track. At the end, people just cant believe finding out being cheated even by their beloved ones. And the "cat" is indeed a winner from all the drama...
"At least, Im honest", she said. Guess, these values of the play are because they are all everlasting lessons everybody has experienced in today's life. Willims is just too bold to put them together in such powerful play. So honest so that I dont even realize I have already felt such stories in my daily life...

it's been awhile since i've seen or read this play. i still can't help but care about the characters. i want to know more about them and watch them interact. it simply doesn't get much better than that, does it? ~steveT

the book i received actually had writing in it, at first i was disappointed because even though i bought it used i still expected it to be in some what good quality. The writing was actually hi-lighted notes and opinions that actually helped me on my test, so in the end i didn't mind it at all. I choose express shipping and it came really fast, about 5 or 6 days compared to the 2 or 3 weeks it usually takes to reach florida.

The novel it's self, was an "okay" novel. it was actually a play taking place after segregation times in the south of the US. not too shabby.

Ok, so it is an American Classic. None-the-less, it is still a story about a family of mean, miserable people. If you like that kinda think then read it. Williams has some great dialogue & vivid characters. Still, can there be at least one good person in the story??