The Piano Lesson by August Wilson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Piano Lesson
Book Review: August Wilson's Piano Lesson
Summary: 5 Stars
This play is indeed a classic in African-American literature. Every high school and college student of every race should be encouraged to read and discuss the brilliant family dynamics that the play so skillfully portrays. The text is so well written that the reader has a vivid sense that they are actually watching, rather than reading the play.Book Review: Dangerous past
Summary: 4 Stars
This play is meant to show us the struggles of a family that is not certain how to deal with its past. The major questions of the play "Will Boy Willie sell the piano?" "Will Lymon fit in up north?" "Will Avery get his loan?" were very common concerns of people in this time period.Book Review: Excellent
Summary: 4 Stars
August Wilson is the greatest American playwright. Not the greatest living American playwright, but the greatest, period. His best plays stand comparison with the best work of Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. No American playwright has produced such a consistent body of work, and no American playwright has attempted a cycle with the scope and ambition of his series of plays. Wilson's subject is the Great Migration, the story of the African-Americans who emigrated from the southern states to the cities of the industrial North and their slow construction of satisfactory lives in the difficult and changing world of 20th century America. Wilson has written 10 plays on this subject, one for each decade of the 20th century, amounting to a fictional history of African-Americans in the urban North. This is, however, history from below. Wilson's heroes are garbagemen, short-order cooks, day laborers, self-taught musicians, and street vendors. One of his great gifts is his ability to use common speech in a way that is consistently interesting, frequently eloquent, and often powerful. He gives poetic voice to people usually regarded as inarticulate and invests ordinary struggles with real but not exaggerated significance. The African-Americans of Wilson's plays are a doubly uprooted people. Uprooted initially by the grievous trauma of slavery that sundered their connection with their native traditions, the emigrants fleeing the Jim Crow south and its brutal racism are uprooted also from their homes, families, and the traditions developed in the aftermath of slavery.
Wilson's overall story is the reconstruction of African-American identity and family life in the cities of the North over the course of the 20th century. Wilson's plays often feature protagonists whose sense of identity and families have been damaged greatly by the oppressions of racism and the atomizing effects of the industrial economy of the North. Over the course of the cycle, Wilson shows characters re-establishing a sense of connection with their ancestors, even back to Africa, and gradually developing the family ties to sustain them. Wilson repeatedly uses supernatural elements in his work, particularly as a device to advance his theme of the importance of developing a sense of historic connection with ancestors, including those originally abducted from Africa. This could easily be hokey, but his matter of fact use of these elements is very effective. Another recurring theme is the importance of music, particularly the Blues tradition developed by African-American musicians, which he sees as a vital and creative force in African-American life, often carrying truths across generations. Some of the most affecting parts of Wilson's work are his demonstrations of the direct and indirect destructive effects of American racism on family life. Even more powerful are those scenes in which his characters overcome these obstacles to reaffirm family connections.
Not all of Wilson's plays are outstanding, but all are at least very good. Readers will differ on their favorites. In my opinion, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Fences, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom are outstanding. The rest vary from excellent (The Piano Lession) to the very good. Cumulatively, they are a really impressive achievement. Mention must be made of the fact that Wilson has been aided by outstanding collaborators. Wilson's plays usually go through a series of versions before the final version emerges. Wilson has had the benefit of working with unusually talented directors, notably the gifted Lloyd Richards, who was responsible in large measure for recognizing Wilson's talent. Wilson has benefited also from the existence of a whole generation of remarkably talented African-American actors. These people made it possible for Wilson to realize his vision. We have all been the beneficiaries of the work of Wilson and his collaborators.
Book Review: Excellent Depiction of 1930s Black Migration
Summary: 4 Stars
This literary triumph by August Wilson is an excellent depiction of Black migration to the North in the early 20th century. It accurately portrays the intricacies of Black family life in American post emancipation years and the value placed on providing a better life in the North than was afforded earlier generations down South, while maintaining a sense of family values and cohesiveness. Berniece carries with pride the strong will and sense of propriety she has inherited from her ancestors. So too, does Boy Willie reflect his inherited traits, but rather that brash irresponsibility that comes with youth and, like his father, a burning desire to own something that should belong to him, but has been denied him far too long . . . for Boy Charles--the piano, for Boy Willie--Sutters land, which his ancestors had worked all their lives for the white man. Each character in this play serves as a reminder of the great variety of skills and talents with which the African slaves were endowed when they were brought to American shores. These talents they perfected in service to owners and masters who enjoyed the material benefits of their labor. Even at the cost of having a family unit torn asunder, try as they may, the masters were never able to take away the only thing the slaves brought over on the slave ships with them . . . these God-given talents. A must read for every African American, lest we forget.
Book Review: Great Book
Summary: 4 Stars
This play was mandatory reading for my Honors Rhetoric course. This literary work by August Wilson reflects the the painful past and anticipated future of the African American race. The characters performances aided greatly in relaying the theme of this play. As an avid reader of Wilson's work, I reccommend this play to all in hopes of transcending the message of Black History. Mr August Wilson in my opinion, is the world's most prolific playwright!