Love Letters and Two Other Plays: The Golden Age, What I Did Last Summer (Plume Drama) [Paperback]

A. R. Gurney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1990 | Series: Plume Drama

In such critically acclaimed plays as The Dining Room and The Cocktail Hour, A. R. Gurney has wittily captured the manners of upper-middle-class WASP America, but never as gracefully or with such dazzling economy as in Love Letters. Tracing the lifelong correspondence of the staid, dutiful lawyer Andrew Makepeace Ladd III and the lively, unstable artist Melissa Gardner, the story of their bittersweet relationship gradually unfolds from what is written—and what is left unsaid—in their letters. A smash hit both off and on Broadway, Love Letters captures Andy and Melissa with a precision of detail and depth of feeling that only Gurney can command. Two other, thematically related plays by Gurney, The Golden Age and What I Did Last Summer, are included, providing a trio of wry and affectionate paeans to love lost, found, and fleetingly glimpsed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Gurney''s finest work, and one of the four or five best American plays of the ''80s."
—Time

"Exhilirating, funny, and moving"
—The Wall Street Journal

"Delightful … entertaining … satisfying … The most charming play to date of a charming writer."
—The New York Observer

"A mini-epic … Dialogue this fine can speak for itself."
—USA Today

"Gurney is an extraordinarily precise and economical writer … His virtues have seldom been better displayed than they are in Love Letters."
—Howard Kissel, New York Daily News

About the Author

A.R. Gurney is the author of many highly acclaimed plays, including The Cocktail Hour, Love Letters, The Dining Room, Scenes from American Life, and The Middle Ages. He is also the author of three novels and the reipient of the Drama Desk Award and the Award of Merit from the Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Plume (September 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452265010
• ISBN-13: 978-0452265011
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't read if you want to spend time on other pursuits., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love Letters and Two Other Plays: The Golden Age, What I Did Last Summer (Plume Drama) (Paperback)

In Gurney's introduction to the play, he states that 'Love Letters' was created during an exercise to learn how to type. Once again, as is so prevalent in history, genius is created accidently. This small, simply-constructed, 55 page play is one of the most captivating pieces of literature I have ever read. After seing a production (on television) I sought out a copy and promptly read the entire play at once. Any reader desperately wants to see Andy and Melissa together and Gurney, the author, does a tremendous job of detailing their lives in such a short space. The play also reveals, so succintly, the heartbreak of mental illness and alcoholism. Melissa's ability to paint and create, her greatest gift, is borne from her pain. Gurney's ability to delve into the minds of such complex characters is outstanding. This play is truly a masterpiece of interpersonal relationships and love for all. There is hope in the hopeless. A must read for anyone with a heart and soul.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love Letters is simple, yet heartbreaking, December 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Love Letters and Two Other Plays: The Golden Age, What I Did Last Summer (Plume Drama) (Paperback)

Love Letters has a very simple concept: Two people reading letters they wrote to each other on separate parts of the stage. They never look at each other. But within these letters is so much humor, love, and truth that the play will carry you away with delight. I read this play as I was browsing through a bookstore. I just wanted to read the first couple of pages since I'd heard so much about it. After page three, I didn't want to put it down. Now I'm buying it for a friend. Don't think this play is a sappy collection of gushy girl talk or even romance-novel fodder. If you have ever been in love, you WILL recognize parts of yourself in this. It always stays true to its well-drawn characters, which is what makes the end so heartbreakingly wonderful.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Friends for Life, April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love Letters and Two Other Plays: The Golden Age, What I Did Last Summer (Plume Drama) (Paperback)

"Love Letters" is a play consisting of a lifetime of correspondence between a man and a woman. It starts when they are barely old enough to write (2nd grade) and ends when one of them dies. In between, there is a lifetime of love, understanding, misunderstanding, longing, pain, and understatement. I saw the play produced in San Francisco in 1989 with Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows. In 1997, I saw it with the original Long Wharf Theatre cast of John Rubinstein and Joanna Gleason. It was excellent with both casts. Last night (04-12-99), ABC premiered a TV movie version directed by Stanley Donen with Steven Weber and Laura Linney. He got the essence of the play with their reading the letters to each other, and flashbacks to chosen moments in time. It had me crying all over again. I remember seeing it for the first time ten years ago with my male best friend. At the intermission, we both looked at each other and said, "Wow." It could have been our life story.