Rating: 
Summary: Mingling God and MacLeish
Review: "Someone is always playing Job." J.B. is a modern day perspective concerning the relationship of human quandary and supreme forces pupputeering man. The character J.B. significantly parallels the virtuous hero of Job from Bibical context. MacLeish puts the Christian story into an identifiable setting and embellishes the role of God and Satan. The author seems to almost be questioning God's motivation for allowing such suffering and excusing such pain. The two texts are best understood when one has read and analyzed both. J.B. may seem a bit more realistic and challenging. I would recommend this dramatic honorary piece of literature. It teaches a universal lesson which all of humanity may benefit from: When tribulation arises, do not ask "why" but turn to "Who." Who is the only capable of relieving the trials of this mundane existance. Who has created all and can deliver peace when all hope has vanished. Who is the answer to "why".
Rating: 
Summary: this was a very insightful book on modern day faith
Review: I liked this book because it had something for everyone. It offered a look at the phenomenon we call religion and God, and examined, through the ancient story of Job, what these phenomena mean to us today, in modern times.
Rating:
Summary: Modern take
Review: Macleish's modern rendition of the Book of Job does an adequate job of converting the serious tale to a modern almost circus like story. Although sardonic at times, he keeps the main focus intact: WHY DO THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFER?
Rating:
Summary: A landmark achievement
Review: MacLeish's pulitzer prize winning verse play sets the Old Testament book of Job in a semi-satirical modern setting (a circus tent), where JB (Job) undergoes his trials under the watchful eyes of the circus vendors Zuss and Nickles, who mimic the roles of God and Satan, respectively. JB's plight is essentially a play within a play, as the focus of the work tends to be the interactions between Zuss and Nickles. MacLeish raises the eternal questions through these powerful scenes, most notably with the recurring jingle of Nickles: "If God is God he is not good; if God is good He is not God..." Readers of this play are forced to address the questions themselves while they are entertained and challenged by the proposals of the characters and the Biblical parallels they represent.
Rating:
Summary: Ecouraging book
Review: This is a play based on the book of Job. It takes you through his struggle and faithfulness to God. After having a lot of land, good cattle and sheep, and a happy family, he is tested. Satan says he will curse God to his face if he doesn't have wealth, a family, or health. Satan is proved wrong. Job stays faithful to the Lord and in the end is rewarded with more than he ever started off with.I enjoyed this book. It is a accurate play in terms of the Bible, although it is not quoted, it helps you too understand the story of Job and it helps you understand what it means to be faithful to God in good times and also in bad times, for he is always there. I recommend it for anyone dealing with any problems or anyone who liked the Book of Job.
Rating:
Summary: Ecouraging book
Review: This is a play based on the book of Job. It takes you through his struggle and faithfulness to God. After having a lot of land, good cattle and sheep, and a happy family, he is tested. Satan says he will curse God to his face if he doesn't have wealth, a family, or health. Satan is proved wrong. Job stays faithful to the Lord and in the end is rewarded with more than he ever started off with. I enjoyed this book. It is a accurate play in terms of the Bible, although it is not quoted, it helps you too understand the story of Job and it helps you understand what it means to be faithful to God in good times and also in bad times, for he is always there. I recommend it for anyone dealing with any problems or anyone who liked the Book of Job.
Rating:
Summary: JB and Job
Review: This play in verse is a modern take on one of the timeless questions of suffering during our lives.In this instance,JB loses his wealth, health and family and during the ensuing discussions with his "friends", it beomes evident that the story is not about suffering, but about faith.Very powerful,but short, descriptive scenes and dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: JB and Job
Review: This play in verse is a modern take on one of the timeless questions of suffering during our lives.In this instance,JB loses his wealth, health and family and during the ensuing discussions with his "friends", it beomes evident that the story is not about suffering, but about faith.Very powerful,but short, descriptive scenes and dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: JB and Job
Review: This play in verse is a modern take on one of the timeless questions of suffering during our lives.In this instance,JB loses his wealth, health and family and during the ensuing discussions with his "friends", it beomes evident that the story is not about suffering, but about faith.Very powerful,but short, descriptive scenes and dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: Pensive and Ponderous
Review: Written in the Fifties, MacLeish's short play is pensive and ponderous. He wanted to write about the despair he saw around him after two World Wars, atomic destruction and several holocausts. Indeed, for all its progressive idealism, the 20th Century has been one of the most brutal we have witnessed. But Mr. MacLeish's play takes the reflection about our crimes in this age and makes it so heavy--"heavy" to think about and "heavy" to the point of dull. Set in minimalist style, the cynical Mr. Nickles and Mr. Zuss, smoke in the darkness while watching J.B. crash and burn. Late in the play, Mr. MacLeish brings in several characters or advisors who also witness this unraveling of the title character and they attempt to console him. Instead they end up patronizing him. Unfortunately, it's written in a way that it detracts from the play. Having read the Book of Job in the Old Testament (which this play follows in concept) and having read some histories of this century, I found that this play bogged down in attempting to be poetic AND profound. It may have been a hit on Broadway when it appeared, but it needs a revival--a re-working--today in order to be dynamic theater.
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