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Summary: My thoughts on the book
Review: The Glass Menagerie is about a disfunctional, low-middle class family living in St. Louis. Amanda, the mother, once a wealthy debutante who dreams of always being young and beautiful again, instead, got left with two children and a postcard from her husband. Laura, the oldest and only daughter is a shy young girl with a brace on her leg. Tom, the son, helps out by working in a warehouse while dreaming of becoming a poet and traveling around the world. Amanda, is worried why Laura hasn't found anyone to marry; so she asks Tom to find someone for her at the warehouse. Tom asks Jim O'Connor to comeover for dinner. When Jim comes over Laura realizes they went to school together and she used to like him. After dinner, Laura and Jim spend time alone and she shows him her collection of glass menageries. At the end, Jim kisses her but quickly leaves becuase he has to meet his fiancee. Amanda get very angry at Tom for not telling them he is getting married. Tom leaves and never comes back. Years later, Tom still feels guilty for leaving Laura alone.
I liked how realistic the book was because it didn't have a typical ending and the characters were very human like. The characters were especially good, because their personalities were all different and like a family they tried to get along as much as possible. They made mistakes and they didn't display any act of heroism or any type of change. They were normal people living their lives which made them very realistic. I also like how the narrator was also a character in the play, because he explained why the people in the play acted the way they did.
What I mostly disliked about the novel was the plot structure and how the novel is like a play. I think that plays should be performed not read. I also think the books progress was very slow. I like the dialogue, but in between the that they had the comments about where the actors should enter or exit the stage and all these details which made me want to skip those parts. Overall, I don't think I would read the book again but I would definitely watch the play. I find that it was difficult to decipher between the important information and the nonimportant information because the book was inconsistant. These minor details over shadowed the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Review of The Glass Menagerie
Review: The Glass Menagerie is a gripping tale of three family members trying to make it through life. Amanda, the mother of the family, is a caring mother that, in her days of youth, had men adoring her much of the time. However, much to Amanda's dismay, her daughter Laura is not so great with the guys. She has a disease, called pleurosis, that leaves her in leg braces. Her brother Tom is an aspiring poet, but works in a shoe warehouse to support his mother and sister. He doesn't like his job and hates that he has to support everyone.
I think that The Glass Menagerie was a wonderful book which took you in and let you get to know the characters. You feel like you are very close to them. Laura is an intersting character that I felt for. It is sad that she is stuck in leg braces. Also when Tom's friend Jim joins the family for dinner, she at first is very shy. Then she talks to him and enjoys his warm comfort. She ends up dancing with him and he actually kisses her. At this point in the story you feel a connection between the two. I felt very happy for Laura that she could finally get over her shyness and get to really know someone. He even tells her a nickname he thought up for her in highschool, "Blue Rose". I felt like Laura finally found the person for her. While they are dancing Jim accidentally knocks over a glass unicorn that was Laura's favorite. She is forgiving and explains that now the unicorn is a normal horse. This symbolizes that Laura was different from other girls because of her disease, but Jim made her feel like "a normal horse". This means she felt like a normal girl and that made her feel great. They finally kiss and Jim apologizes. He goes on to explain that he is in a serious relationship and he can't be doing this. Laura's heart is broken, but she gives him the broken glass unicorn as a souvenir. Jim then tells the family that he has to leave because he is meeting his fiancée. When Jim leaves Amanda is very upset with Tom for bringing Jim over when he was engaged. Tom explains that he didn't know that. Then, Amanda goes to Laura and comforts her. At this point in the story your heart goes out to Laura. She finally met someone she liked being with and could talk to and have fun with, and he has a fiancée. The story ends with Tom talking about how he can never forget what he did to Laura, and no matter where he goes he is always reminded of the incident. At this point in the story, at the end, I did not feel content with the way it ended. I was left longing for Laura to find a man for her and wondering what would happen to Tom. I guess I'll never know.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Quite simply, The Glass Menagerie is the very reason you read a book. For the passion, the pain, the happiness, that indescribable feeling you get when you've finished the very last sentence. Tennessee Williams doesn't disappoint. The Glass Menagerie tells the story a family trapped in the ruthless battle of life, struggling to survive their circumstances and the memories that plague the Wingfield apartment. So subtlety and tenderly does Williams weave the reader within the words of his play that we too are left like his characters, gasping for a breath away from the intoxicating despair that inhabits their existence. The Glass Menagerie's brilliance lies in Tom as narrator, Williams continues symbols (eg. the Paradise Dance Hall, the gentlemen caller, the fir escape) and his ability to create characters so real you can almost hear their heart beat. Basically if you haven't read The Glass Menagerie you should, it's an unforgettable experience.
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Summary: His best
Review: This was the first play I ever saw in my life and it made a deep impression on me. There are so many things to relate to in this tale of deception, control, dysfunction, co-dependency, and family life, that even if you don't live in St. Louis, have a crippled sister, or a nagging mother (who doesn't?) you'll find yourself in one of the characters.This is the brilliance of Williams. Like other writers out there (think Styron in his "Sophie's Choice," McCrae in "Bark of the Dogwood," or Arthur Miller in everything he ever wrote),Williams manages to give us several examples of "everyman" without reducing them to stereotypes and clichés. The sheer power of "Menagerie" is overwhelming. Like his "Night of the Iguana" or his "Cat," he is marvelous at letting us inside his character's heads. In recent years Tennessee William's plays have seen something of a decline, both in production and sales. Nothing like the forties, fifties, or even seventies when he was still very much in demand. But this will change as each new generation discovers this master theatre builder. If you like good writing, well-developed characters, dialogue that leaps off the page and follows you home, try any play by Arthur Miller, "Proof," McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood," or "Angels in America." All highly recommended.
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Summary: The Glass Menagerie
Review: The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, really makes your mind think. It's about a family of a mother(Amanda), her daughyter(Laura), and her son(Tom). They live by themselves in a small house together. Laura is a shy, young, crippled girl, who doesn't get out much, at all. Her brother, Tom, and mother try to get a gentleman caller for her. Amanda asks Tom to bring home a nice young man from his workhouse for Laura to meet. So, Tom asks a man named Jim O'Connor over for dinner. The rest of the book is about Laura's time with Tom.
Some things I didn't like about this book was athat it wasnt very long, so it didn't have much time to describe anything in great detail. The Glass Menagerie is an easy read and very short. I also didn't like how it didn't say very much about everyone's feelings. You didn't really know how anyone felt about anything.
There were many things I did like about this book too. I liked that it was in the form of a play, and that there were only four characters total. It made it very easy to keep track of who was talking.
I also really liked how the book ended. The way that Laura comes across Tom again, and he tells her that she needs to "Blow out her candles and say good-bye." By this, I got hte impression that he ment to say good-bye to her glass menagerie and go explore the world.
Over all i really liked The Glass Menagerie. The plot was very interesting, because it showsyou that sometimes, you need to forget about certain things and move on.
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Summary: "Charm....Vivacity.....and...CHARM!!!!"
Review: For my theatre class we were split up into groups of two and told to pick a scene from a play, so my partner and i picked Scene two from Glass Menagerie. It was my first time to ever read this play and as im reading it i was like oh jeez could this be anymore predictable, but then the end came and i was like......wow that was sooo not what i was expecting.... and about two weeks later when my partner finally finished the play (needless to say she wasnt exactly interested in this assignment) she was also in shock at the climax of this play i highly recomend this book to ppl that have short attention spans (its wicked short) and to those who like surprise endings.
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Summary: A Timeless Play
Review: The Glass Menagerie is the play that brought Tennessee Williams his long-awaited and well-deserved first taste of success. In the more than half a century since the play was first written and performed, it remains an enduring classic -- not only on the stage, but also on the page. Williams, one of the most literary playwrights to ever hoist a pen, created a classic play that also makes for great literature. His love of the literary is made clear primarily through his stage directions, which are sometimes quite lengthy -- whereas many playwrights, including Shakespeare, have barely any at all -- and also quite poetic. Like his later play, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie is a family drama. The title is apt: the characters in the play live, as, no doubt, many of us do, in a virtual glass menagerie, living out their pathetic lives from day to day. This "memory play" is a window into their world. No one in the family is happy; indeed, they are so engrossed in their own pathologies that they seem to forget that they are a family -- that the other people they live with have thoughts and dreams and hopes and visions of their own. They seem, at times, nearly oblivious to reality, as another reviewer quite rightly put it. Many of the scenes are, no doubt, familiar to anyone who has had to live with other people. The Wingfield's existence, sad and pathetic as it is, can probably be related to by many: everyone who reads the play probably sees a little bit of him or herself in every character; individual scenes may stir long-forgotten or repressed memories. This play is William's wake-up call to us all: he is telling us, as Neil Young later sang, to "open up those tired eyes", see the world, embrace reality, and, above all, LIVE. Don't let your unicorn's horn break.
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Summary: Disturbing, realistic, intriguing.
Review: "The Glass Menagerie" is an excellent play but also disturbing. It opens ones eyes to how pathetic we are, and some people may have a hard time dealing with that - also known as denial. It's been a long time since I've wanted to scream at the character's to change, and this play broke the drought. I saw a little of myself in each character, and although it made me sad, I think it took guts for Williams to fully inject himself into a play. I recommend.
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Summary: Message for today's family survival
Review: Just finished watching The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theater Archive Directed by Anthony HArvey) on DVD with Katharyn Hepburn,Sam Waterston, Michael Moriarity and Joanna Mills. This powerful play has matured with age and the times to create a forceful message to all humanities psycologicaly challenged widows,living with a son and daughter who are suffering from a backgrouind of a family where ther farther deserted the family and the children are held in bondage by an overpowering mother whom you are not sure is more interested in bagering her children or really struggling with her own sad life. Amanda (Hepburn) can't stop talking and criticizing her children driving them to destracton. Son Tom (Sam Waterston) appears more able to defend himself but his sister (Joanna Miles) who has been handicapped with a leg brace is far gone introvered in her lass Menagerie world and totaly in her inability to relate to the world becase of her infirmaty. I had a problem with Hepburn's diction and shrill voice in additon to her non stop chipping away at her children. Amanda does display her motherly love at times as when she understands her daugher's problem in dropping out of the business school. She does the same when after the blow between Tom and Mother, the silence between them is broken by Tom who reallay is a very sensative and caring porson but is driven to his wits end by the constant cackling of his mother. The most poignant and beautiful scene for which I was glad that I didn't stop watching in disgust was the interlude of Laura and Mr. O'Connor in the living room where they demonstrate the greatness of Williams. One is brought to tears as O'Connor who is a sensaitive young man, reveals to Laura her inner and outer beauty shredding her inferiority complex and shyness because of her handicap. It isa ost senative scene as he explains that most people are handicapped in one way or another and that she is realy a beautiful person and that her beauty and senativity overcomes her physical challenge. When he teaches her how to dance, lifts her and twirls her around in spite of breaking the prized unicorn she has had an epiphiney strong enough to overcome the disclosure that O'Connor will not be calling again. This play offers a message to one and all which cautions parents from being too domineering over the lives of their adult childrren and for those with handicaps to realize that their inner soul and spirit can shine outwards if they only give themselves an opportunity to blosom. In addition the message for the adult children is to educate yourselves and to learn to listen to your parents but be independant, never forgetting the fact that hopefully parents want their children to succeed and to be happy I was disappointed with the ending of the play. I wish there was a more satisfying resolutin. One of a happier emancipation of son and daugher with a continued affecton for the mother. You never know where the characters will end up. Maybe that's good writing where you think about the future of their lives knowing all the issues the characters are still facing.
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Summary: A Tragedy to Literature
Review: I don't care if this play was somehow a foil of Tennessee Williams life, it was the worst "work" of "literature" I have ever been forced to read for school. I must add that I did read the whole thing and understood it. I took a class on it in ninth grade and got a A on my paper. But this is a story of Tom's pathetically sad life that involves his taking care of his aging mother who can't give up her past and his disabled sister with an unusal attration to glass figurines of animals. This play is filled with symbols, metaphores, and all that jazz, expecting you to feel for the characters and Tom. No, his unenthusiastic approaches at life, and depressed facade turn down any simpathy you feel for him. Amanda the mother is obnoxious, end of story. And Laura the sister is SO helpless you can't help from stopping to want to end her life now. Don't buy the play DON'T DO NOT watch it and never think about it again. Horrible.
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