Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A Small Precious Treasure, Feb 23 2000
Do not be deceived. This book/play, though thin and small and light, has great presence and substance.Joe Saul is a man, he could be any man, an acrobat, a farmer, a sailor, who has a deep desire to have a child of his body - but can he? The story shimmers with violent energy, barely repressed. It truely 'burns bright' with emotion, clear and confused, painful yet tender, loving yet savage. Without giving the story away, the three act structure is incredibly important to the theme of the story/play - Steinbeck is perhaps one of the most intelligent writers in thinking a theme right through, and crafting his work to reflect the theme on more than one level.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising twist makes the potentially dumb book, genius., May 24 1998
By A Customer
I love Steinbeck, and read as many of his books as I can. I had recently bought this book, and when I needed to read a book for school, took the chance to read this one. It is different in the fact that it is a "play-novelette," as Steinbeck calls it, and is divided not into chapters, but acts. This is a fine mixture of the good qualities of both a play, and a novel. Essentially, it is a novel that can be done as a play without losing any of the author's intentions. However, by the end of the first act, I almost started a new book, as Burning Bright seemed dissappointingly to be the type of book that I could pick up on a trashy romance novel clearance shelf. But I decided to start the next act, since I had little time to turn in my report. It was then that I saw Steinbeck work his magic, and show in a completely unique way that certain things in life are no respecter of class, status, circumstance, or geography. A very well written book, which, like most all of Stenbeck's books, deals with human struggle to lead not only a life, but a life with meaning. I highly reccommend this book to any Steinbeck fan, or anyone else that is looking for a book with peculiar twists, and good insights.
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