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The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe [Paperback]

Jane Wagner
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 27, 1991
Jane Wagner's masterpiece--The first play in
more than 20 years to become a national
bestseller--is now a motion picture!

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The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe + Lily Tomlin: The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe
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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This play is Wagner's latest starring vehicle for Lily Tomlin, and it is a wonderfully comic and painful dose of truth direct to the heart. In this satire, a form all too lacking in American theater, Trudy the bag lady, Wagner's central character, tries to explain modern American material society to an alien (i.e., interstellar) committee. In the first act a variety of types are seen suffering in their lives. The more full of anxiety and terror they are, the funnier and more disturbing the play is. The focus of the second act, tied to the people of the first act, is a group of women who live through the social fads of the 1970s and 1980swomen trying to make something real enter their lives, but who live desperate and superficial existences. Yet the play ends with a hymn to the creative spirit. The text is lavishly illustrated with performance pictures. Required reading. Thomas E. Luddy, English Dept., Salem State Coll., Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A work of genius and compassion." -- -- Gloria Steinem

Product Details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial; Revised edition (February 27, 1991)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060920718
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060920715
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #939,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jane Wagner is the winner of four Emmy Awards, a Writer's Guild Award and two Peabody Awards. She received the New York Drama Desk Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars
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4.9 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A play full of human insight, wit and wisdom December 4, 2003
By gac1003
Format:Paperback
Trudy the Bag Lady has made a life for herself on the streets, offering her own bits of wit and wisdom to the passers-by. Before she wound up on the streets, she was in and out of hospitals, receiving so much electro-shock therapy that she believes her nervous system has been re-wired and now tunes into the bio-rhythms of people around her.

Trudy takes us, along with her two alien companions, on a discovery trip to find out what it means to be human and imparting her own impressions on life. She tunes in a wide array of people, ranging from Agnus Angst, a 15-year-old punk performance artist; Agnus' grandparents Lud and Marie; Chrissy, a recently unemployed workout enthusiast; Lily, an actress currently performing a one-woman show; and many others, both men and women, gay and straight.

This play is full of marvelous insight into the human condition and life in the 1980's. This is very apparent in the incredible second act, in which we follow Lyn from the consciousness-raising times of the 1970's through her rise and fall in the business ranks of the 1980's and her turbulent family life. Also, all the characters, in one form or another, have some influence on the life of the other characters in the play, whether or not they actually meet: Lyn has an affair with Agnus's mother; Kate, a rich trendsetter, finds a suicide note left by Chrissy lying in the street; Trudy takes the aliens to see Lily's play in order to show them goosebumps.

The book also includes still images, from the stage production, of Lily Tomlin, many of which were shot by Annie Leibowitz. Jane Wagner also created some montages of Lily as the many characters in the play.

Full of wit, insight and tenderness, this play stands as a perfect glimpse into understanding society.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Lily Tomlin January 17, 2013
By Kika
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been wanting to read this hilarious, thought-provoking & well-written book again for years...glad to have it in my library.
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5.0 out of 5 stars what's not to love? August 21, 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Come on... Jane Wagner, and can just imagine Lilly doing the characters... it's great. The writing is clever, still very timely, moving, funny... Just wish I could have seen Tomlin perform it!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent Life
This is the most intellectual, most poignant, most insightful slice of life I've ever seen and read. Read more
Published 13 months ago by pamdrea
5.0 out of 5 stars Tomlin's Tour de Force
The word "Tour de Force" may not have been invented with Lily Tomlin specifically in mind, but she is one of the best people for whom this epithet should be used. Read more
Published on December 23, 2007 by Carole K. Kenney
4.0 out of 5 stars really good play and a great source of monologues
This play is just what my title says....very entertaining and if you are in the theatre world, guys, but especially girls, should look into a purchase of this play for potential... Read more
Published on August 22, 2005 by Megan Hughes
5.0 out of 5 stars Done it and loved it
I'm in an arts/high school program, PCCA. I came in after all of the other students had already been there for over a year. This was the first piece I ever performed there. Read more
Published on January 1, 2000 by Gali
5.0 out of 5 stars This book/script is ....... there are no words!!!
This one woman plays many characters, and will take you on a journey of laughter, and much more, and leave you smiling for long after you put it down...
Published on December 17, 1998
5.0 out of 5 stars Putting reality on a back burner
As she tries to explain human beings to extraterrestrials who are searching for signs of intelligent life in the universe, Trudy, the bag lady, channels among others: Agnus Angst,... Read more
Published on October 17, 1997 by C. C. Hawkins
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