The Glory of Living: A Play [Paperback]

Rebecca Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2001

The award-winning, "viscerally powerful" (The Guardian) early play by the author of Spinning Into Butter and Boy Gets Girl

Set in the rural Deep South, Rebecca Gilman's The Glory of Living received critical acclaim rare for a new American play when it had its British premiere in 1999, garnering the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. Set to open in New York in the fall of 2001, this work focuses on fifteen-year-old Lisa, the daughter of a prostitute, and Clint, the car thief she runs away with to escape the misery of life with her mother. But the happier times that sullenly childlike Lisa yearns for never materialize, as Clint orders her to procure young runaways for him. No one notices that these teenage girls are missing until an anonymous call to the police reports their murders. Could the caller--and the killer--be Lisa? Rebecca Gilman has created a riveting, unsentimental portrait of a young woman whose most striking quality is not her capacity for evil but the depth of her emptiness, in an environment as harsh and unyielding as the contours of her life

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Plays don't come much tougher, or more compassionate . . . Gilman's dramatic strength is that she provides the evidence and leaves us to form our own conclusions." --Michael Billington, The Guardian

"Powerful . . . Gilman's writing is enormously compelling." --Sarah Hemming, Financial Times

About the Author

Rebecca Gilman is one of the major young American playwrights working today. Her play Spinning Into Butter had its New York premiere at the prestigious Lincoln Center Theatre in Summer 2000 and Boy Gets Girl--chosen by Time magazine as the best play of 2000--was seen at the Manhattan Theatre Club in March 2001. Both of these plays are available from Faber and Faber. She lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber; 1st edition (December 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571199984
• ISBN-13: 978-0571199983
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the read, but a must-SEE if possible..., January 25, 2002

By 

momwith2kids (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Glory of Living: A Play (Paperback)

I've never reviewed a play based on the book alone before. But here it goes: I'm a fan of Rebecca Gilman's work anyway. I like her style...very straight and simple, the work moves quickly. I like the fact that she deals with modern issues (stalking, political correctness, child criminals), and in this case with Glory of Living, she's talking about some pretty disturbing stuff (all based on true events). However, I like the fact that she can introduce these controversial, even offensive subjects in such a way, that you can handle it. Like instead of slapping you in the face with it and turning you off completely (like in a recent play "Absolution", or Ellis' novel "American Psycho"), she shocks you but causes you to really think about the situation and the characters in that situation, how they got there, etc. I like the fact that her plays somehow force me to let go of judging the characters. I think GOL is definitely worth reading, and I do it so I can have a sense of what the story's about, but really plays were meant to be seen onstage. I saw it in NYC this past November at the MCC Theater and it really was fantastic. The cast brought a whole new dimension to the play...it's beautiful!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "But I appreciate that you try.", November 29, 2004

By 

Aco - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Glory of Living: A Play (Paperback)

Note: The "glory" of the title is ironic.

This is a very swift moving, lean play, which may be about ignorance, learning to pay attention to yourself, female subservience, psychopathic love or even the mental effect of poverty and absent family life on a young mind. The play is so efficient and flexible though that if I kept considering themes, several more are there. Because of that flixibility of theme, that encompasses many issues, The Glory of Living is an excellent play.

It reminded me of some of Sam Shepard's plays about poor, down and out, violent and seemingly foolish people. It also reminded me of Badlands, the 1973 film about the young, beautiful couple who murdered several people.

Another review here spoke of the simplicity with which Gilman deals with heavy subjects, allowing the audience or reader to contemplate and feel the issue out, so as to see the people involved and not be lead by spectacle and judgement. That is a point I'd say is right on, because by the end of the play I was moved by the tragedy of Lisa.

Carl: (shaking his head) I can't even begin to understand you.
Lisa: Yeah. But I appreciate that you try.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strange but a Gilman great!, January 7, 2003

By 

S. McCasland "Playwright and Director" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Glory of Living: A Play (Paperback)

You've got to have an odd taste to enjoy this thrilling Gilman play of a murdering and kidnapping couple, one older man and one young woman, who escape the prostituting mother of the main girl. Of course, I recommend her SPINNING INTO BUTTER over THE GLORY OF LIVING, as many others do. If you're a Gilman fan and used to her oddities of plots, you'll love having this on your bookshelf.