Closer (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In Closer, Patrick Marber has created a brilliant exploration into the brutal anatomy of modern romance, where a quartet of strangers meet, fall in love, and become caught up in a web of sexual desire and betrayal. Closer is being hailed as one of the best new plays of the nineties, and as the London Observer noted, it "has wired itself into the cultural vocabulary in a way that few plays have ever done.

About the Author

Patrick Marber was born in London. His first play, Dealer's Choice, (1995) won the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and the Writer's Guild Award for Best West End Play. Closer premiered at the Royal National Theatre in May 1997 and went on to receive many awards. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Grove Press Ed edition (November 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802136451
• ISBN-13: 978-0802136459
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #116,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Closer you look, the stranger they are, November 30, 2003

By	Alysson Oliveira "Alysson Oliveira" (Sao Paulo-- Brazil) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Strange things are the human beings. Come to think of them. We are never happy with what we have-- we always want more, and we always have a hard time trying to fulfill our egotistical desire. This wish is what moves the characters in Patrick Marber's play `Closer'.

A group of four characters get together and falls a part. It begins when the stripper Alice meets the journalist Dan. Months later they are married, he has written a book, and he meets the photographer Anna, who's taking his pictures to the book jacket. Dan grows obsessed with Anna. In an Internet chat room, while pretends to be Anna, Dan meets and have `sex' with the dermatologist Larry. They arrange to meet in the Zoo on the following day. Larry goes there and by coincidence the real Anna is there. They end up getting together and married. This is when these four persons relationships are about to get more complicated.

It is undeniable that what moves Marber's characters is the sexual attraction, rather than love itself. People desire each other, more than love --albeit they can say they are in love. Dan seems to be the kind of man who wants to be with as much women as possible, while Larry appears to be in love, at first. But this feeling total disappears and becomes a feeling of revenge --sexual speaking. He wants to hurt both Anna and Dan. On the other hand, Alice has a blasé behavior at first, which ends up being an obsessive sexual relationship as the time goes. Moreover, Alice develops a sick patter through the years. Anna, while seems to be a strong and independent woman at first, turns out to be fragile until when she is hurt very hard, and has to be strong again.

The dramatist manages to give a sad and honest look in love and desire in our times. His characters and situations are totally believable and well developed. We can go inside people's feelings and understand what moves them. Not a single scene has flaws-- everything and everyone are where they are supposed to be. A great play for our times.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Closer: Art at its best, October 3, 2005

By	N. Bellato "nathaliesandra" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After falling in love with the movie, and purchasing the movie script - which contains a lot more scenes from the play that were shot and then deleted from the movie during editing, I figured reading the book would be the best way to connect all dots, as the movie's timeline can lead to confusion. Love the book too. I know many people find the whole topic and dialogue obscene, vulgar, boring, depressing and irrelevant, but I really enjoy it, and find the dialogue clever, refreshing, realistic. Having read Closer I understand the movie a lot better. Either way, this is fantastic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The human heart: a fist wrapped in blood, June 17, 2007

By	Tom Benton (North Springfield, VT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There is a wonderful line in Patrick Marber's "Closer," one of a great many, in which one character asks, "Have you ever seen a human heart? It looks like a fist wrapped in blood!" That line perfectly sums up Marber's play, which has become something of a contemporary classic since it hit stages in 1997. "Closer" is a cynic's love story, the tale of four strangers whose lives interweave as they fall in and out of love with each other over the course of years. There's Dan, the obituarist who dreams of becoming a writer; Anna, the photographer who tries not to dream; Alice, the stripper who just wants to be loved; and Larry, the dermatologist who watches it all with a devious eye.

"Closer" was made into a woefully misunderstood and truthfully stellar film by director Mike Nichols, with perfect casting (Jude Law as Dan, Julia Roberts as Anna, Natalie Portman as Alice, Clive Owen as Larry), but Marber's play is still better. It's everything a play should be: observant, amusing, realistic, and above all else, thoughtful. Most animals don't stay with one partner through their entire life, and what are humans but animals? Can we ever truly find our "soulmates," or are we meant to just drift in and out of love throughout our lives? If Marber knows, he doesn't show it. "Closer" is one great, big, hard-hitting question, spoken by Alice: "Why isn't love enough?"

I must admit, I'm not much of a fan of the stage. Previously, only the work of Tennessee Williams had really impressed me. But Patrick Marber's "Closer" is playwriting perfection. It's impeccably structured and loaded with no-holds-barred, simply brilliant dialogue. Regardless of your opinions of theatre, or even if you've never read a play before, I would highly recommend "Closer."