Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

‘Cat on a Hot tin roof'by Tennessee Williams was very interesting, and a fast read [if you really get into it]. The storyline shows a typical southern family in the 1950's. A tyrannical father who might be dying, his wife, an overbearing, overprotective house wife. There son Brick, the protagonists, who gets injured and throws his life away with alcohol and his wife, a woman who Brick doesn't even love. There other son and his family are money smooching sycophants who clearly show no ‘real love' for their family. Its a good book because we really get to follow the relationship that Brick has with each member of the family ever since he became an alcoholic. And the death of a friend who probably was gay just causes more outbursts between the father and himself. You will be able to see the clear differences between their time and ours and how Williams does a great job by digging deep into a typical white southern household during times of segregation and intolerance of alot of things.

I watched the movie back in the 90s when a friend and I were having a Paul Newman marathon (as one does). And I remember loving it! At that point, our English class had read and analyzed Williams' “The Glass Menagerie, which I adored, and I'd watched a few other movie adaptations of Williams “Streetcar” and “Baby Doll.”

So, it may have been my insistence that we read a play for the May 2024 Great Books meeting that lead to selecting “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” This time around, I found the movie and the play far less alluring. In fact, the characters seem overly histrionic, unbelievable, and spew ridiculously long speeches. Some of the short back and forth barbs were quite good, though.

If you have watched the 1958 movie version, you'll notice that some of Act II moves to the end of the movie. Some of the interchanges between Big Daddy and Brick were the most effective and believable conversations as both men faced turning points in their lives.

Lastly, the stage directions seemed overly specific and almost annoying (or at least I'd find them annoying if I was the director).

Sometimes I ought to leave well enough alone as t it s read tarnished my view of the play.