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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Life Finished,
By
This review is from: O'Neill (Hardcover)
More than fifty years after publication this remains the ultimate biography of Eugene O'Neill. Carefully, thoughtfully, pensively researched and even more carefully written, the full portrait of the man emerges and it's a flawed man but one of genius. In the recent past his plays have somewhat fallen from favor although not from admiration. One must wonder if a production of "Mourning Becomes Electra" would be possible in these money driven times. At over six hours it's a test of not only the actors but the audience. On the other hand,I can think of no play as intimate, as personal as "Long Day's Journey Into Night". It also remains as one of the finest adaptations for the screen. Watching the drug addicted Mary, (Katherine Hepburn) struggle to say the Rosary and can only choke out "Hail Mary full of....." is both tragic and the broadest possible comment by the O'Neill on the horror of drugs.
O'Neill's life was a cluttered one. His wives, his romances both tainted and enhanced his works. In the film "Reds" Jack Nicholson portrays O'Neill but it's a quirky, snide O'Neill that seems at odds with the material presented here. The Gelbs wisely allowed their text to run the full length rather than a too edited version that misses a few dark corners of the man. The style is appropriate to the material, it never sounds like a "told to" book, it's the study of a person whom the authors admire but never let that dissuade them from telling the truth when a deletion or a slightly sanitized version might have made the man more of a literary god than a talented, troubled person. One never feels cheated, that there must have been more and, equally, it never becomes a slog fest where it's necessary to force yourself from page to page. It is complete within itself and where it ends is not a summation but the end of his life. As it should be. Now difficult to find, it's a worthy addition for anyone who has seriously studied American Drama. And, for those to whom he may not be familiar, it's an interesting book involving, many, many people who formed a time and a legacy in American Literature. It never disappoints and never is less than the whole truth gently told.
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