Bookish Talk | Book Chatter

Proof Cover

Proof: A Play
By David Auburn
Faber and Faver
March 2001
96pp

The Short of It:

A past-paced, gripping play about young woman struggling with the recent loss of her father, the arrival of her uptight sister, and her own self-doubt over whether or not she’s sane.

The Rest of It:

Proof, a play by David Auburn is about a young woman named Catherine, who finds her sanity questionable after caring for, and losing her father to mental illness and heart failure. After spending the last few years frustrated and concerned over her father’s wellbeing and internalizing those feelings, she is suddenly thrust into society and forced to look at herself. We are invited into her world to feel as she does, vulnerable, fragile and completely unsure of herself.

If the storyline sounds familiar to you, you might be remembering the movie which came out in 2005 and starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anthony Hopkins. As far as adaptations go, the movie was actually pretty good.

Proof The Movie

I read the play for my Contemporary Lit class and I loved it. It’s filled with conflict and doubt and then there are the conversations that revolve around mathematics (might as well be a different language to me) but they were necessary and powerful in conveying the absolute brilliance of both father and daughter. The main question here is whether or not Catherine has inherited her father’s mental illness as well. Auburn does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing. It’s a quick read, only 96pp but as soon as I finished it I went right back and read it again.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a play but it was refreshing and broke up my reading rut. Reading it reminded me of all the drama classes I took in college. So much is left up to your interpretation and I sort of like being challenged that way.

After reading it, I saw the movie and it was really very good. The whole experience was a win-win.

Have you ever read a play? If not, I encourage you to pick one up. Reading one is entirely different than reading a book but it’s an enjoyable experience.

Source: Purchased

The Boy is not a reader. I’ve mentioned it here before so it’s certainly not news but with him starting middle school, it’s become increasingly obvious to me that his reading comprehension is not where it needs to be. He struggles a bit with his everyday coursework if reading is involved. He tends to forget important facts and his vocabulary is limited. So we had a conversation about it. I told him that if he read regularly, that these other things would eventually fall into place.

He agreed.

BUT, he said that he has nothing to read. That he goes to the library and all he sees are books about vampires, talking animals and eating disorders. So we headed out to the bookstore and this is what we found:

Bookstore Shelves

…books about vampires, talking animals and eating disorders.

Hmmm.

Look at those shelves! 80% of it, if not more, dedicated to books about vampires. Well, the kid doesn’t like vampires and a tween boy really doesn’t want to read about girl issues either. So we weeded through the pile and came up with Alex Rider which has a teen spy as its protagonist. The Boy thinks it’s just “ok” and not fantastic. He wants to read books that are more realistic but written from a boy’s point of view. He really enjoys S.E. Hinton but he’s read everything she’s written already.

I have to say, that for a 12-year-old, The Boy can handle more mature themes. It seems as if he seeks them out but can’t find books that work for him. I figured it was an excuse he was using to get out of reading but he’s right. The shelves are limited if you’re not into what’s popular right now.

Oh, I’m sure there are books out there, but they are aren’t being promoted in any way, shape or form when you go into the bookstore or even the library for that matter. All you see is a sea of black and red.

Is there a problem here that I am not aware of? Is it just a huge marketing push to display these types of books. Are they really THAT popular? I sort of thought the vampire thing was fading out. Or perhaps authors that cater to young adults cater to that genre because it’s what sells? Where are the books about teen boys, dealing with everyday teen issues? It seems as if an entire group is being overlooked. Am I right?

If you have any suggestions for The Boy, please post a comment. Sometimes I think if he got past the cover of a book, he’d actually enjoy the story but apparently he is a cover snob like his mom! He see’s a kid with fangs or a girl looking hungry and he heads the other way and don’t even get him started about talking dragons.

Chatting with friends about books and life…