Lost in Yonkers (Drama, Plume) by Neil Simon
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Book Reviews of Lost in Yonkers (Drama, Plume)
Book Review: "I stopped feeling because I couldn't stand the thought of losing again."
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in Yonkers, New York, in 1942, this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play captures the tumult of the period by focusing on the lives of three generations of one family, all of whom are dealing with personal issues in addition to the traumas of World War II. Arty, age 13, and Jay, age 15, whose mother has just died of cancer, must move in with their stern immigrant grandmother and sweet, but ditzy, Aunt Bella while their father works for ten months in the South.
Grandma Kurnitz, who (ironically) runs a sweet shop, is embittered by her life: only four of her six children survive, and none of them are close to her. She does not know her grandchildren and does not want them living with her and messing up her life and her house, facts she makes plain to the boys from the outset. Ruling with an iron hand, she terrifies everyone around her.
The coming-of-age of Arty and Jay, as they learn to deal with Grandma and eventually learn to respect her, is not without its complications as the rest of the family involves the boys in their own issues. Aunt Bella, who is mentally and emotionally a child, falls in love. Aunt Gert, who can speak only as she exhales, and wheezes as she inhales (the result of a childhood trauma involving Grandma), checks in periodically on Grandma and Bella but tries to avoid Grandma. Uncle Louie is a bagman for the mob, and he is on the run. Their father, who maintains a dramatic presence through his letters, cannot come home until he has earned enough to pay off the loan sharks to whom he is indebted for the money for his wife's cancer treatments.
Moments of great drama, wit, and poignancy play out within the apartment, with all the action revolving around Grandma. Gradually, the reader/viewer develops empathy for this victim of life's tragedies, a woman who has made her own life more difficult than it needed to be and permanently damaged the lives of her family. The liveliness and optimism of Arty and Jay, as they try to survive Grandma and their life with her, cast the damaged lives of their elders into sharp relief, adding to the dramatic intensity of the climax. Firmly grounded in time, place, and atmosphere, this play, like many other Simon plays, provides a close-up look at a struggling family in New York and reveals its action from the point of view of a child who comes of age during the action. A beautiful evocation of man's universal need for love and respect. n Mary Whipple
The Good Doctor
Rewrites: A Memoir
Book Review: Among Simon's Finest
Summary: 5 Stars
He began his career as gag writer who quickly progressed to a series of popular comedies--but in recent years Neil Simon's plays have become less about getting laughs than creating character studies. The 1991 LOST IN YONKERS is precisely such a work, a play in which humor is incidental to the characters rather than intrinsic to the situations they experience.
Set in 1942, the play focuses on brothers Jay and Artie, whose father has gone into debt and must now accept a war-time job that requires extensive travel. Recently widowed, he leaves his sons with his sister and mother--the former a child-like creature who seems largely unable to function in the real world, the latter a German-born dragon who, embittered by a very difficult life, equates any show of emotion with weakness. So far as Grandma Kurnitz is concerned, the boys are unwelcome guests, and if they are to live under her roof they must follow her ironclad-inflexible rules.
Although the children drive the action of the play, the heart of the story rests in the stormy relationship between Grandma Kurnitz and daughter Bella, over whom Grandma Kurnitz has exacted a truly terrible authority. The presence of the boys seems to incite Bella to rebellion--and when that assumes tangible shape the truth of Grandma Kurnitz's personality is revealed, a truth that is both terrible and very human and which leaves us with a mixture of sorrow, admiration, and even love for this extremely difficult woman.
Over the years Simon has received numerous critical accolades for his work, and in this area LOST IN YONKERS proved remarkably successful, winning five Tony Awards including one for Best Play, four Drama Desk awards including one for Outstanding New Play, and ultimately the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was also a great success with the public, running seven hundred eighty performances in its original production and proving a favorite in regional and community theatre as well. As for my own assesment--I am not always enthusiastic about Simon's plays, but even I have to say that LOST IN YONKERS is a dramatic gem, memorable in both characters and story. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Book Review: Dysfunctional sadness interspersed with brilliant comedy!
Summary: 5 Stars
This Neil Simon play is a quick and easy read, very humorous and yet sad. Set in Yonkers, NY in 1942, it focuses on two young brothers Jay and Artie Kurnitz who are left to live with their "cold as ice" grandma because their father needs to earn money down south. The boys are witness to the dysfunctional upbringing that results in painful sadness and craziness in the family. It proves to be a real eye opener.
Grandma is a hardened angry woman without compassion. Abuse, domination and control were her parental skills while she never allowed her kids to cry. The four children whose ages range from mid 30s to early 40s still fear her. While her darkened and painful past is intermittently sprinkled throughout the story we learn from her that "you can't survive without being like steel."
Aunt Bella has some mental challenges, works in the family store and takes care of her Momma who has always threatened to send her to the Home. Toward the end, she defiantly stands up to her Momma be demanding a right to be marry, to have and love her children and she says to her momma...."you never wanted to be touched with love...Do you know what it's like to touch steel, Momma? It's hard and it's cold and I want to be warm and soft with my children."
Louie, meanwhile arrives and uses the home as his hideout for "doublecrossing the mob." In his exchanges with the boys, he too, reveals some of the family's painful past. Louie is a real character, hiding his pain behind laughter.
Aunt Gert has a speech impediment, but Louie said she can't talk without choking because when she speaks, she "sucks in the rest of the sentence." They blame this on the times they were put in the closet as children.
Eddie the boys father is weakened too. He lost his wife to cancer and his momma blames him for rarely ever visiting her. His crime was allowing his wife to love him, to be loved! Throughout most the play, we hear from him through letters from his job down south.
Sounds pretty sad huh? Oddly, this is one of the funniest plays I have read!!.....Rizzo
Book Review: Lost in Yonkers
Summary: 5 Stars
Neil Simon, a magnificent writer who wrote the play Lost in Yonkers. This book was written in a style of a Jewish family from Yonkers. They had a thick Yiddish/New York accent. I enjoyed reading this story being Jewish I was able to feel more at home with the book because to me since I could relate I found it more enjoyable. This book focuses on the value of family and how there are things that you don't want to do but in the end you are glad you did them. Coming into a situation such as moving in with your Grandmother and Aunt who you haven't seen in years and knowing that it is a sticky situation you don't always come in to it open minded. The way Simon wrote this play was more so how you could feel so much of how the boys were feeling through out the play. Such as when they saw Bella again and they remember how off her rocker she really is and the way they would make fun of her to one another showed that they can lighten up and they are sarcastic boys. It was very dramatic at some parts, especially when Bella wanted to tell her secret that she had wanted to tell grandma, and she had it visualized down to where every one was sitting. You could almost feel all the excitement, anger, and tension in the room. Simon does a fabulous job of making the reader feel like you are in the same room, and I don't usually get that feeling when I am reading a book but when you can feel that way you know that is a great book. The message of this book is to love your family for every piece that is missing. You may have a mean set of grandparents, but love them, because deep down inside they love you too. You might have those crazy Aunts and Uncles but what would your family be like with out them? Everyone in your family has their own role, love each person for who they are and never forget the memories that you shared with them.Book Review: Superb.
Summary: 5 Stars
This play is a true classic. It is different from Neil Simons other largely succesful plays, because of it's serious undertones; though it does not lack comedy. It takes place in the 1940's Yonkers, NY. Two boys whos' mother died recently of cancer move in with their grandmother while their father tries to pay off his debt by going around selling scrap iron in the south. The family is genuinely messed up, between simple yet sweet Bella, Henchman Louie, Gert who cannot speak without sucking in half of her sentence, and Eddie (the father of the two boys) who is rather weak; the boys have quite a family. But none of these characters are any bit as overwhelming as Jay and Arty's german grandmother, who was brought up strictly and brought her children up in such a way that there is something wrong with all of them. Yet, this play also has a bright side. The character of Arty has some wonderful oneliners; for instance:
"Jay: He had an uncle in Poland who died. He left the money in the will to Pop.
Arty: You think the Germans would let some Jew in Poland send nine thousand dollars to some Jew in Alabama?"
This line, if properly delivered is funny, yet poigniant. I strongly suggest that you read it; and if you get the chance, see it live. A heart-wrenching coming of age story about the search for independence and how the past can influence your life forever.