Waiting for Godot

Rating:
Summary: existentialist to the core
Review: WAITING FOR GODOT is a wonderful book in the same way that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is a wonderful movie: it's obviously a magnificent piece of art with a very important message, but it's also deeply disturbing in its portrayal of human existence. It is a quick and easy read, (you could read the whole thing in an hour or two), but it is full of message and meaning. It is an existentialist play about relationships, both with other humans and with the universe, about the breakdown of communication, about the natures of time and human thought. Take warning: this is not an uplifting book. One of the ironies of the play is that it examines the breakdown of communication, when words loose their meaning and so forth, and yet it so successfully gets its message accross using words. I highly reccomend this book, although persons easily depressed may do better to steer away from it.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible piece of writing
Review: " Waiting for Godot" is one of the most amazing pieces of literature. The way that Beckett creates a dialogue between 2 characters is pure genius. The most significant part about Beckett is his extreme absurdity in writing. Beckett, though seemingly crazy as many authors are, presents a different kind of play.

Rating:
Summary: The Meaningless Existence of Humanity
Review: Some may argue that Waiting for Godot is about the hopes and dreams of the human race. I beg to differ. It is readily apparent that Beckett mocks our society. The characters of Estragon and Vladmir are content to do nothing at all; except to wait for Godot. Man is known for keeness of mind and action. It seems that Beckett is creating a civilization in which the humans subsist on a vague idea; they can not think or do for themselves. This is an absurb view of humanity. It is innate that man wishes to live his life to the fullest. Beckett's view is in direct contrast to this. He descries that men are clowns, and that their behavior is innane. I have yet to read a literary work with a darker, more hopeless and tragic view than the one created by Samuel Beckett in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Reader Assembly Required
Review: Anyone reading "Waiting for Godot" will experience sixty pages of "waiting" that ends without a solution. Unexplained and left for the director to decide are geographic location, time period, and character appearance. This generality obviously makes the play sound somewhat interesting because it requires reader imagination. . . and evidently Beckett intends it to be very general, but what it difficult is that any reader could make anything that comes to mind out of the play and argue their point just as well as the next. The plot in "Waiting for Godot" consists of waiting. period. Vladamir and Estragon encounter the same boy every day who tells them that Godot will come tomorrow. The boy tells them it is his first time seeing them every day. Why? Unexplained. The reader must find meaning. Vladamir and Estragon frequently forget simple things. They forget why they have been waiting even though they have been waiting for Godot indefinately. They forget the color of their boots even though they have been wearing the same clothes indefinately. Why? Unexplained. Maybe they are mentally ill. Perhaps everything being the same for so long has made them unable to notice or pay attention to common things. Many readers say that the whole thing has to do with God and Jesus Christ. I could argue just as persuasively that the whole thing directly relates to the Wizard of Oz. Readers expecting the book to enlighten them as to a new religious perspective will find that Beckett makes God almost evil. If the book has to do with God or Christ, readers will find a message telling them to stop paying attention to the God they believe in because he really doesn't care. Stop going to church, stop following commandments. . . get on with your life. Anyone interested in action, charcter encounters with others, or a real page-turning play should not read this book. It will not enlighten. The only thing someone would experience reading "Waiting for Godot" is sixty pages of the same thing that was going on in the very first page: waiting. Anyone who will now say that I didn't read the book enough times or that I wasn't reading inbetween the lines must understand that I came up with many ideas inbetween the lines that may have worked, but when the ENTIRE play is written inbetween the lines, it not only takes incredible amounts of time to read, but also has no definate meaning. As for reading the play again, if I were to attempt reading "Waiting for Godot" a second time, I would be doing nothing but reminding myself how much I hate the play.

Rating:
Summary: A great work of absurdist drama, comical and tragic
Review: A drama of absurdity and humor, Waiting For Godot ranks as one of my alltime favorite plays. While it's certainly not the easiest of plays to understand (especially when read), Godot's philosophical themes can be related to by everybody in today's world. Beckett achieves something altogether great with deceptively simple characters and minimal production elements. As a play of philosophical treatise, it is of the highest order. I wholeheartedly recommend this play, both for its comedic elements and its philosophical meaning.

Rating:
Summary: I was here. . .wait for me -Godot
Review: I read this play in the summer of 1996 and then was fortunate enough to see a wonderful production at the Stratford Festival that same year. To try to explain the play to those who have not read it is difficult. When reading it, think of times you have waited. I think of a time when I had friends coming into town who told me they would call as soon as they got in. While I wanted to do other things, I waited patiently by the phone all day in case they called. I, in essence, became a slave to waiting. At dusk the phone rang, my friends telling me that they would not be able to come until the next day, and to wait for them to call me when they got into town. It is like playing the lottery, waiting to win. I know that paying for the ticket is silly, and I probably shouldn't do it, but as sure as I don't buy a ticket my numbers will come up. This is what Go-Go and Di-Di are waiting for. They are waiting for the uncertain while the "true" experiences of life pass them by. Then again, you may get something different out of it. You'll never know if you don't read it. What are you waiting for?

Rating:
Summary: And now from a denser corner
Review: I am a junior in high school. My final english assignment (except the exam) was to pick an American play and write an oral presentation of it. But I chose this instead because I had heard it parodized on the NAtional Lampoon Radio Hour. Little did I know that I had stumbled onto one of the strangest things ever put into writing. I guess I could babble about its historical connotations, but I think (the little I am capable of) that it has more to do with individual experience. Who is Godot? My best guess is just about anyone or anything else people want to put all their stock in. I would not say Christ right off the bat, except to people that put too much stock in the second coming and not enough in the immediate experience of Christ

Rating:
Summary: For those who cannot appreciate Godot
Review: When I read Godot for the first time, I was a high school senior in my AP English class, and the book was a reading that the teacher had us do in class for the existentialism theme. The play is almost a satire of the old religious ways and even though Beckett wrote the play with a grim setting a seemingly rambling lines, if you read the lines carefully, they have more meaning than you can imagine. References to Christ and Christianity are everywhere and it takes a very open minded individual person to understand half of the book. I have re-read the book about 5 or 6 times, and each time I am able to understand more of the dialouge and its subliminal meanings. Waiting for Godot is by far one of the most ingenious works that I have read to date, and I will continue to read it in the years to come. This book has made me re-evaluate my role as a human being in this world and my values. It is truly sad to read that many people find it meaningless, because they do not open up their minds and do not read in between the lines.

Rating:
Summary: Ought to be Required in MBA programs
Review: It has been years since I first read Waiting for Godot. Today the title came to mind in context of a business deal gone awry. The mentality of Vladimir and Estragon is all too common in today's world. If MBA students were required to read and force fed an interpretation of the play, there would be less fence sitting, less procrastination, and more proactive behavior. Hurray for Liberal Arts Education.

Rating:
Summary: Depiction of ourselves
Review: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot is undoubtedly his most original and insightful play to date. Despite rough beginnings in Paris, the play grew in popularity amongst the ranks of society to become the widely acclaimed work of art that it is today. What is most interesting about Waiting for Godot is ability to produce varied effects on audiences. For some, the play is merely slapstick humour, while for others it is tragic and slighty unpleasant. One thing that can be said for sure is that audiences have been coming away from the theatre confused and discombobulated since it was first performed in 1953. Upon closer inspection of the play, Beckett's intentions become more and more apparent. The play is not about two vagabonds from another age. It is about us. Waiting for Godot subtedly makes a statement about our own ignorance and lack of wisdom through short, simple dialogue and shallow yet surprisingly realistic characters. It is indeed a "Tragicomedy" as both tragedy and comedy collide in a bleak illustration of the human condition and the absurdity of existence