Lost in Yonkers (Drama, Plume)
by Neil Simon
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Book Summary Information
Author: Neil SimonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-01-01
ISBN: 0452268834
Number of pages: 128
Publisher: Plume
Book Reviews of Lost in Yonkers (Drama, Plume)
Book Review: "I stopped feeling because I couldn't stand the thought of losing again."
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in Yonkers, New York, in 1942, this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play captures the tumult of the period by focusing on the lives of three generations of one family, all of whom are dealing with personal issues in addition to the traumas of World War II. Arty, age 13, and Jay, age 15, whose mother has just died of cancer, must move in with their stern immigrant grandmother and sweet, but ditzy, Aunt Bella while their father works for ten months in the South.
Grandma Kurnitz, who (ironically) runs a sweet shop, is embittered by her life: only four of her six children survive, and none of them are close to her. She does not know her grandchildren and does not want them living with her and messing up her life and her house, facts she makes plain to the boys from the outset. Ruling with an iron hand, she terrifies everyone around her.
The coming-of-age of Arty and Jay, as they learn to deal with Grandma and eventually learn to respect her, is not without its complications as the rest of the family involves the boys in their own issues. Aunt Bella, who is mentally and emotionally a child, falls in love. Aunt Gert, who can speak only as she exhales, and wheezes as she inhales (the result of a childhood trauma involving Grandma), checks in periodically on Grandma and Bella but tries to avoid Grandma. Uncle Louie is a bagman for the mob, and he is on the run. Their father, who maintains a dramatic presence through his letters, cannot come home until he has earned enough to pay off the loan sharks to whom he is indebted for the money for his wife's cancer treatments.
Moments of great drama, wit, and poignancy play out within the apartment, with all the action revolving around Grandma. Gradually, the reader/viewer develops empathy for this victim of life's tragedies, a woman who has made her own life more difficult than it needed to be and permanently damaged the lives of her family. The liveliness and optimism of Arty and Jay, as they try to survive Grandma and their life with her, cast the damaged lives of their elders into sharp relief, adding to the dramatic intensity of the climax. Firmly grounded in time, place, and atmosphere, this play, like many other Simon plays, provides a close-up look at a struggling family in New York and reveals its action from the point of view of a child who comes of age during the action. A beautiful evocation of man's universal need for love and respect. n Mary Whipple
The Good Doctor
Rewrites: A Memoir
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