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Waiting for Godot

Waiting for Godot

List Price: $15.95
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The End Is In The Middle
Review: Okay, I know that everyone loves Beckett, that he is an artist, more than he is a writer, but that's the problem. He's too absorbed in the formal aesthetic of 'nothing', or 'absurdity', that he doesn't grant readers what they want: Character.

His entire approach (in his prose work) is derived from the last chapter in Joyce's Ulysses, which isn't nearly as remarkable as Faulkner, Gaddis, and Pynchon- who all took from Joyce and expounded, where as Beckett is only imitated.

It's old news: The men waiting for Godot argue about nothing while waiting, and Godot never shows up. It's suppose to be this grand metaphor for God(ot) (Get it?), that there isn't an inherent one, and that the waiting is the only thing which 'creates' him.

I gave up in the middle because I got the joke already, it was so obvious. Beckett had a point to make, and wrote a stoy (play) at us, instead of for us.

If you want to experiment with language, write a poem and get it over with, so you don't waste other reader's time, instead of what Beckett did, which was bury himself in only what he'd like to think only he could understand.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The epitome of Existentialist Literature
Review: An existentialist tragicomedy in two acts. I loved this play-- definitely the epitome of a tragicomedy. I laughed out loud at many of the lines from Vladimir and Estragon, the main characters, as well as Pozzo, a man that happens by as they wait for Godot. The deeper themes of the play got me thinking too.

Who is Godot and why are these two men waiting for him? Good question. It's not important though-- not as important as their waiting to be saved by Godot at least. The way the characters passed away the time of their waiting made the pages fly by for me-- it seemed I had scarcely started when I was at the end!

Highly recommended. Waiting for Godot is a great, quick read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: But He'll Surely Come Tomorrow
Review: "Nothing to be done" "I'm coming round to that opinion myself. For years I've tried to put it away from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything. And I resumed the struggle." -So begins the greatest play ever written. A tragicomic start to a tragicomedy. Many people ask who is Godot. But who cares? The play is all about the waiting. It is about passing time. Trying to find conversation topics. How everything, in the big picture sense, is useless. About individual experience. The words of Beckett are poetic. Each sentence, each piece of dialogue, Lucky's speech... Bob Dylan put it in a way I relate to when I think of Godot. "Every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal." These words are alive. If you've ever wondered how come this play is so highly appriciated, pick up this book and read. It is as powerful and flowing on the page as on the stage. You will recite pieces of dialogue from this play ever after.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A brilliant piece of Existentialist and Absurdist literature
Review: Waiting for Godot centers around two bums: Estragon and Vladimir. Estragon has an incredibly short memory and relies on Vladimir to remember for him. As a result, Estragon is extremely impatient and constantly suggests that the two would be better off if they parted. However, Estragon needs Vladimir and Vladimir needs Estragon, so they never do part. Vladimir, due to Estragon's lack of memory, is unsure of his own memory. Vladimir enjoys the company of Estragon, for it allows him to recall past events. Together, they spend their time devising ways to pass the time until 'Godot' arrives. Neither Estragon and Vladimir or the reader surely know what Godot is or looks like or whether he will ever arrive. On two occasions, they meet Pozzo and Lucky. Pozzo is Lucky's master and decides to stop and talk to Estragon and Vladimir for a bit of company. Pozzo hardly listens to what the other characters in the play say and frequently launches into melodramatic prose. Lucky is Pozzo's slave, tied to Pozzo via a rope around his neck. Lucky only speaks twice during the entire play. His monologue, which is delivered upon Pozzo's order of 'Think', is completely incoherent - a mix of half-finished words and sentences. Lucky is very obedient to Pozzo and rather violent and hostile to strangers, especially Estragon, who he bites. In the second act, Pozzo and Lucky return again, this time Pozzo is blind and Lucky is mute. They have no memory of ever having met Estragon and Vladimir. The play ends in the same way Act One ends - Estragon and Vladimir are still dependent on eachother and remain waiting for Godot.

Waiting for Godot is a classic text of existentialism and Absurdist literature. The very ambiguous nature of these two strands of thought and literature makes Waiting for Godot extremely difficult to understand and extract. However the questions, confusion, anger and melancholy that arise from the lack of explanation, meaning and answers is one of the very themes of the play. The large amount of speculation people have made upon Godot (the most popular one being that Godot symbolizes God) is entirely misdirected and a waste of energy. Beckett himself ignored such claims and interpretations, stating that the emphasis should be upon the 'Waiting for...' section of the title. Religious interpretations see Estragon and Vladimir as humanity waiting for the return of the messiah (Godot). Pozzo represents the Pope and Lucky is the faithful. Marxist interpretations see the relationship between Pozzo and Lucky as that between a bourgeosie and a proleteriat - Pozzo being blind to the injustice he causes and Lucky unable to protest against his treatment. Another interpretation claims that Lucky is granted his name because, in the context of the play, he is unduly lucky. This is because the other characters of the play are constantly searching for ways to pass the time, while Lucky's actions are fully determined by Pozzo. Other interpretations posit Estragon as the body without the intellect and Vladimir as the intellect without the body.

Overall, Waiting for Godot is a superb and though-provoking play. It should not be shunned for its ambiguity - for that is the very beauty and theme of it. Despite all this, it certainly calls for multiple readings. It is a remarkable insight into the nature of the individual and society in a meaningless, unexplainable world. Waiting for Godot does not propose any solutions or consolations - rather it paints a picture of the current predicament and man's reaction. Nearly every human being is waiting for their Godot and is employing some means of wasting the time until its arrival. I highly recommend this classic - it cannot and will not be ignored.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Waiting for nothing
Review: This play centers around two men who spend the entire story waiting for someone who in the end never shows up.
This vague character is none other than Godot who is never seen in the play at all. We only know of him from the conversations of Vladimir and Estragon who spend all their time just waiting for him.
This character Godot is more like a distant or abstract concept than a real person and the way this story is written
it seems that the author was trying to show this.
Which is why Godot is not portrayed in the story at all but only as a subject of conversation.
As with any story this can be interpreted in different ways.
I see this tale as an allegory or parable describing those who waste their lives or time waiting for something that will not come about.
It could be the hopeful gambler who bets everything on winning a fortune and lives only to achieve this. As time goes by all he manages to do is simply lose more money in the process.
Instead of striking it rich he ends up more broke than ever.
Or it could be the workaholic who plans for a future of ease and
pleasure,while sacrificing everything else including himself,his health and peace of mind.
However he succumbs to a heart attack brought on by stress before he even gets a chance to quit the rat race.
There could be other examples it could represent.
For example the futility of some religous people who think the second coming and their deliverance is at hand.
They wait and see every occurence around them as proof that the end is near,but as time passes by and they pass away then it occurs to some observers that what their waiting for is just wishful thinking.
What this shows to me is that it is never a good idea to stop living and sacrifice all your needs to wait for a future that may not come.
To do so is an act of pathetic absurdity like Vladimir and Estragon wasting their time waiting for an appointment that never occurs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's the waiting that's important
Review: A lot of reviewers have tried to extrapolate that Godot is God and that Vladimir and Estragon are seeking religious meaning. To me, it was the waiting, presumably endless, that was important.

It is clear that Estragon and Vladimir represent commen men waiting for some "real meaning" to be evident in their lives that will fulfill their emptiness. To me, the title could have easily been "Waiting for Pizza" or "Waiting for Miss Right" -- it doesn't matter. The object of their waiting, Godot, could even be extended to even mean a deity or some spritual happiness. What was important to me was the waiting; the hope in the face of hopelessness and the perserverance to find meaning are strengths of mankind.

The story in itself is pointless -- that is, without a finality found in the third act of the traditional play. However, that could very well be the main point.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uniquely interesting
Review: Waiting For Godot is certainly an interesting and unique drama. The sparse presentation and sense of hopelessness underlying this tragicomedy appeals to the existentialist in me, but I was not moved or stimulated enough to grant this work five stars. I daresay that the effect of Waiting For Godot is much more impactful and effective when performed on stage than it is when read, particularly in terms of the lyrical dialogue that often comes to the fore. To a large degree, this is a play about nothingness (which is quite different from a play about nothing), so I find it rather strange that it is hailed as one of the greatest dramas of the 20th century. This kind of thing usually suits my tastes but few others'. There's no fantabulous show designed to bedazzle the ideas of the spectator, just a country road and a tree set during the evening hours. The cast numbers five individuals: the two unfortunates Estragon and Vladimir, Pozzo and his "slave" Lucky, and a little boy (possibly, in the context of the play, two little boys who may or may not look exactly alike). Estragon and Vladimir spend their time examining their hats, worrying with their boots, thinking about separating or just hanging themselves to be done with it all, and of course waiting for Godot. I don't want to ruin this for anyone, but you never meet or find out if this mysterious Godot even exists. Some critical thinkers (along with a few of your basic pseudo-intellectual crackpots) seem compelled to interpret Godot as a God-figure, but I see no reason to make that speculative leap.

Estragon and Godot really have no sense of who, where, and when they are, as becomes clear in their interactions with the wealthy passerby Pozzo and Lucky, his personal servant who is as much a trained mule as he is a man. Lucky can "think," though, and you'd better grab a seat and hold on when he gets started. After the first night comes, Estragon and Vladimir return to the same spot to once again wait on Godot, and once again Pozzo, now suddenly blind, and Lucky return. No one seems to remember anything much about the others or of the previous day with the exception of Vladimir, and the interaction between the four major characters certainly introduces some comedy, albeit of a tragic, resigned sort. The comedy actually makes the drama more tragic, so its classification as a tragicomedy in two acts is pretty apt. I don't see a lot of hope revealed here, although others seem to. Life is simply meaningless is the message I get most clearly out of it, so the only hope I perceive comes in the form of waiting for something that may or may not happen while doing nothing yourself to make anything happen. We are all waiting for something, I suppose, but such a vivid portrayal of the utter futility of such behavior strikes me as more depressing than inspiring. This drama really deserves multiple reads in order for its true essence to work its way closer to the surface; it may well be, I freely admit, that I have yet to spot whatever essence the play intends to reveal to me. I won't deny Waiting For Godot is a landmark drama, and I fear this review has done it very little justice, but I consider the act of writing it a victory of sorts over the useless practice of waiting for Godot to come and explain everything to me and take care of all my questions and troubles.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: I'll admit, I don't know a whole lot about theatre or drama. I've spent the past three years reading history, philosophy and other non-fiction. I finally understood though, that I am denying myself philosophy, political critique and history as astute as Sartre, Chomsky or Zinn by Not reading Fiction. I went from devouring every Brecht play/poem/essay I could take out of the library, to a seemingly odd choice; Waiting for Godot. I say again, I don't know a whole lot about theatre (though it is on my list) - however, I was able to understand Waiting for Godot.
People have complained that it is difficult to read. Perhaps my opinion is shaded because I read it right after Finnegan's Wake,
but I found it pleasingly direct, if sparse in "meaningful" dialogue. It ultimatly boils down to two men, apparently homeless, who are waiting for "Godot". Godot (I believe it's pronounced Ga-Doe) is never really explained. It's a "he" according to our two "protagonists". Is it the answer to existential torment? Destiny? Death? I don't know. I suppose the point is not to answer, but to ask, like Ibsen - My call is to ask, not to answer.
Anyway, don't let the reputation of Waiting... Fool you. Some books (Finnegan's Wake *cough*cough*) DO deserve their reputation; some don't. Waiting for Godot will give as much back to you as you put into it. I've already read it twice and enjoyed it more the second time. I bet the Third time will be better. I recommend this play highly.
Also, the translation is as spot-on as you can get; it was done by the author.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't miss this 'tragicomdedy in two acts'!
Review: I recommend this French play, in which two characters spend two acts waiting for the mysterious Godot, to everyone because of its message about religion. At first glance, that message seems to be one advocating the opinion that religion is futile, but on closer examination, the play sends out a different message to readers. As it is comprised of two acts, Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" is a short, quick read that it is inexcusable to miss.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: just let your head spin.
Review: the poet billy collins wrote that you shouldn't take a poem, tie it to a chair, and then beat it with a hose until it confesses its meaning. something like that. the same goes for Waiting for Godot. yes, in-depth analysis of this work is both fun and enlightening, but it tends to dilute its overall effect. when i first read this play, i didn't understand its deeper meaning or cosmic message--i just really liked it. not knowing why i liked it made the experience that much more interesting. having read analyses since, i can say with confidence that i "get it," but also that "getting it" isn't entirely the point. so let your head spin a little. if you don't immediately understand what beckett is getting at, at least you'll have plenty of jokes and quirky dialogue to enjoy. there's something for everyone in here.


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