The Long Christmas Ride Home

 

I liked "How I learned to drive" even though it wasn't a comfortable read. This play about a dysfunctional family during the holidays is ok, but definitely I felt like this was more of a play to be seen than one to read. This is because the play used Asian puppetry. It would have been cool to see on stage. I admire the writer for trying something different, but it gets lost in print.

The Pillowman

 

This was an ok play by Martin McDonagh. It's my introduction to the playwright. It's about a writer whose stories of child murders bares a strong similarity to recent murders. At first, he thinks the police is making up stuff but finds out the murders were actually carried out by his handicapped brother. This was not an easy play to read. The stories that the writer has written aren't half bad. I'll read another play by McDonagh soon.

Anne Sexton Complete Poems

 

It took me more than a year to get through this. I read it here and there. Anne Sexton was definitely one talented poet. The poetry in the beginning mostly focused on mental illness. There it was the most powerful. She dabbled in other topics like fairy tales which was just an ok attempt. Her confessional topics were the ones that struck me the most. This uneducated housewife rocked the poetry world in the twentieth century. It's proof that you don't have to be stuffy to be a successful poet. She was one of a kind.