The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore is at first confusing, but as a work, very concrete. Set in Italy, Tennessee William's play, places us into the last days of the very wealthy Flora (Sissy) Goforth. Suddenly, a young man, Christopher Flanders, makes his way to the estate, with very unclear motives. His stay is brief, but the tense relationship between Christopher and the rest of the characters makes for a very energetic play, similar to a mystery. Why did he really show up? Of an interesting note, the situation in this play, a terminal illness, is similar to the situation Tennessee was dealing with in his own life. The personal connection to William's own life makes this a very honest play. Enjoy it.

By the time he wrote this novel, Tennessee Williams had long since earned the right to describe a condition instead of narrating a page-turner. Here, you turn the pages because a serious artist is spellbinding even in simplicity, not because you are being manipulated by some Hollywood hack. Williams didn't need to write about serial killers. He didn't need silly literary hooks or meretricious pyrotechnics. He was a poet and brought a poet's skill to his book. If you want to see what a literary novel can be, I recommend this without reservation. It might make you want to give up on the serial killer books and start reading something decent for a change.

Following closely upon the heels of NOT ABOUT NIGHTINGALES and SPRING STORM, this latest New Directions release is refreshingly optimistic for Williams. In this early play, he didn't feel confined to three acts, but instead wrote nearly twenty vignettes, some only a few lines long, to tell the story of Benjamin Murphy, employed at the Continental Branch of Consolidated Shirtmakers. Very impressionistic, this play opens with mechanistic technae in the background as Murphy's supervisors wonder where in the world Murphy is. He's literally found stairs to the roof! A place to smoke, but also a place to dream and to breathe fresh air. As the scenes proceed, the story becomes more and more fantastical and wild, with obsession and foxes and carnivals and millenial magic. Great fun--I'm teaching it to my high school freshman English students this year!

I'm a big fan of Tennessee Williams, so if you are really interested in this author, you should read this book as soon as possible. You will know what you don't know about him, about how homosexuals were treated in the 50's, 60's, and 70's. It's not only an biography, but also sort of historical book. Anyway, you guys should read this book, and I'm sure that you will have the same feelings about it

I love all three plays. William's characters are driven by enthrolling energy and emotion. Also, the power stuggles of the characters adds a lot to the play. He relies heavily on the stereotypes of Southern people, but does not overdo it. All the plays leave the reader with a bundle of emotions on their hand

This is a good book to bring along on day hikes. Clear photos and identifying information. It is not about gardening wildflowers.

After my first reading of 'Something Cloudy, Something clear," I was confused and frustrated with myself. The play did little for me and I knew this had to be the result of my inattentive reading, because no Tennessee Williams play has ever failed to effect me in some way. Upon a second reading, I was immediately struck by the play's powerful nostalgia, almost frighteningly true insights and Wiliams's mastery of universal language. This is when I knew I was reading a play by the great Tennessee Williams. Much like Chekov, the play has little to do with plot. Victims of Hollywood's endless catalog of films void of subtlety, which spare audiences any thought by saying everything for them, are unlikely to enjoy this play. "Something Cloudy, Something Clear" is an opportunity to take a tour through a great playwright's life and read his welocme observations which unexpectedly leap out of the dialogue. But "Something Cloudy, Soemthing Clear" is not exclusively autobiographical, it speaks for us all. We all have moments in which we recall certain portions of our lives with surprising clarity. "[Life] finally seems to occur all at one time," as the play's main character, August, tells us. Looking back on those times, we are often better able to understand ourselves and the human experience, As Wiliams appears to have accomplished in writing this play. Written at the end of his life, "Something Cloudy, Something Clear" is a fitting epitaph to one man's relentless attempt to understand the human experience, and with plays such as this, Williams was kind enough to let us peak in at his thoughts along the way. Thank you, Tennessee.

actually, i think this is one of williams' most daring plays, as it is so autobiographical, in every detail. the main character is no doubt williams himself, every (but one) person appearing in the play have been in close contact to him in the 40s. I think it is high time to have this play performed again, as it had not seen the spotlight since 1981 (as far as i'm informed).

We liked to read this play even though it is a tragic story. The father left his family a long time ago and so Amanda ( the mother) had to bring up her children of her own. Now she is looking for a gentleman caller for her crippled and shy daughter Laura. Her son, one of the main persons in the story but also the narrator, earns the money for the family. But he isn't satisfied with his job at the warehouse and with his whole life. Well, if you're curious now how the story will go on, then you have to read the play. The story is full of symbols. For example the glass menagerie is like Laura, very fragile and tender. It also shows the unrealistic world in which the family lives, especially Laura and Amanda. We really can recommend to read this play. It's really great.

"The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams was very well written. Williams did an excellent job of portraying life-like characters. They were so well written, that they seemed real, like us at certain points in our lives. At one time, we were all like the mother, Amanda, who seems to live in the past, and be kind of overbearing at times, for example when Laura only went to three days of her business class that she was sort of forced into going to. Laura, the shy character, also is very life like in the fact that we all were a bit like her too. Everyone, at one point in their life was really shy and just wanted to stay locked up in their room. Tom, the son, is the narrator in the story. He constantly tries to escape reality by going outside and to the movies. He's the sort of person who just needs to constantly escape from life. The main theme of "The Glass Menagerie" is just that. Trying to escape from the sometimes-disappointing reality called life. The plot was simple, yet very effective. A reason for the simplicity I think is that this book is meant for us to realize that even though things may have been better in the past, not to live in it, but rather to live in the present, because we may be missing something even better than what we had that is right in front of us, waiting for us to notice it, but we're so enthralled in the what has happened in the past we don't see it. Basically what "The Glass Menagerie" is trying to tell us is that we need to live in the future and if we don't, then we will miss out on all the un-lived life that lies right in front of us, waiting for us to discover it.

I enjoyed the book, The Glass Menagerie. It wasn't too long and it was very interesting to read. This was my favorite out of all the summer reading books i had to read. One reason is that it is written as a play. The play focuses on three main characters: Amanda, the mother, her daughter Laura, and her son Tom. I also liked it because it is one of those books you can't put down. I found myself wondering what was going to happen next. I perceived the atmosphere of this play to be a sad one. It's not like a sudden tragedy had occurred, but just their day-to-day life seemed hopeless. I felt sympathy for the characters. I wanted to give them help and support at times! Amanda and Tom always fought with one another. Tom was sick and tired of the way he had been living. He wanted real adventure instead of just watching it on the movies. Laura, on the other hand, was content to sit at home with her glass menagerie. Their mother, Amanda, had become so obsessed with finding a gentleman caller for Laura that everything else almost didn't matter anymore. Amanda always reminisced of how she had so many gentleman callers in her day. She wanted the same for Laura. But Laura was much different than her mother was. It wasn't that easy for Laura to meet gentlemen. Amanda needed to realize and accept that. I was impressed by this play. It was filled with emotion and diverse characters. They were almost oblivious to reality. They had their own worlds and expectations of what life should be. Their struggles to make their lives better were desperate and real. In the end we don't really know how everything turns out, but we were left thinking that anything could happen.

Smith's cardboard characters include a perky gay man (ooh, he cooks, how original), foul mouthed alcoholic mom and her thoroughly dislikeable teenage daughter, raving psychopath bad guy (honestly, could she make it a little clearer that he's evil?), and chronically depressed main character, Skip Langdon. Okay, Skip, here's some advice -- lose 20 pounds and take a vacation.

I found few redeeming features in this poorly written, badly plotted exercise in tedium.

This is less a whodunit than a thriller, since it's clear from the start who the Bad Guy is. But that doesn't make it any less entertaining.

It's true, as another reveiwer says, that Skip is less confident in this novel. But to me, this adds rather than detracts. Skip's uncertainty, false starts, and growing fear are realistic, and her sense of doubting her own reality increases the tension in the novel.

As often happens when reading series novels, the side plots and secondary characters often are more interesting than the primary puzzle. Smith's teenagers are particularly good -- she seems to me to be that rare adult who hasn't been struck with nostalgic amnesia about the pain of being a 15-year-old girl.

Beware, the ending does not "sew up" all the loose ends, so you'll have to be ready to move on to the next one in a hurry!

Officer Skip Langdon is back, but she's not quite who she used to be, she's on a leave of absence from the New Orleans Police Department. A recent assignment has left her a bit tattered and torn. She's lost some of her humor and strength, characteristics that made Skip so lovable. Now she's tormented by a new evil, a preacher running for Mayor, that she is convinced is a cold blooded killer. Enter Errol Jaccomine, a charismatic man, leading his flock. His followers are more cultists than parishoners and his expectations of them are way beyond that of a traditional religious leader. And while many see him as a savior for the corrupt New Orleans, Skip sees a sadistic manipulator who just wants more power.

Smith has created a complex villian. who we will no doubt see again, as he embodies everything Skip is not. His character is evil incarnate and every scene he is in is at once riviting and repulsive. My reservation is that Skip seems to be losing herself in this latest story and that would be a crime.

Before reading this I knew absolutely nothing about Tennessee Williams....after reading it I wish I knew even less.

Williams writes with no continuity, constantly jumping back and forth with stories from different times in his life, making this book difficult to follow.

His drug addictions, prima donna temper tantrums, numerous homosexual trysts, and infidelity to his dying lover are nothing to be admired yet he writes about them as if they were badges of honor.

Don't waste your money or time on this one.

This book shocked and disappointed many upon its release in 1975. Many were expecting something resembling a predictable literary auto-biography, though, with the authors notorious history and reputation, should have been prepared for what they got instead. This is a fascinating book about and by the man many called genius, the author of "A Streetcar Named Desire", "The Glass Menagerie", "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof", "Sweet Bird Of Youth", "Night Of The Iguana", etc..., and the events in his life that help one better understand just how autobiographical many of his works were. From his upbringing by a tyrannical, indifferent father, who was disappointed in his "sissy" son, his overbearing mother, and his relationship with his lifelong, deepest love, his sister Rose, whose tragic mental illness and lobotomy froze her in time, and perhaps was the most important factor in his troubled life and his creative genius. He was all too human, in his relationships and insecurities. He exposes himself, warts and all, at once being an extremely sensitive, caring human being, who at other times in his life, could turn into an irrational, paranoid, abusive chore to be around. Substance abuse certainly played a major part in his progressive personal and professional demise, and he is brutally honest about that also. He is also unapologetic about the many promiscuous periods of his life, the bluntness of his recounting of sexual escapades usually so humorously told, that it defuses what could have been just vulgar bad taste, to some. His 14 year love relationship with Frank Merlo, who died of cancer in the early 1960's, was, aside from Rose, the most important relationship of his life. Though he and Merlo were estranged towards the end of Merlos life, then had a reconciliation just prior to his death, Tennessee was to never recover from the loss. He also tells about the beginning of his career, and certain pivitol moments in his professional life when, before fame and praise came, it was doubtful that the poor, struggling writer might ever find success. There are also wonderful first hand insights into his contact with the likes of Brando, Anna Magnani, Capote, to name a few. But, admittedly, this book is more about the man than the career. He readily concedes that he is not about to bore himself and some readers to death with chronological descriptions about the fruition of each play. As he says here: "The plays, what about them? If this was a book only about my plays, it would be a very short book. The plays speak for themselves". In fact, there is nothing chronological about this book. It was published about ten years before his tragic death, a period in his life that , after a brilliant career with successive hits, was marked by professional failure, the progression of which was publicly recorded by ,what many perceived to be, unusually aggressive critics who were intent on destroying him personally. If you're looking for a standard auto-bio of a literary career, you may be disappointed. But you also may enjoy, as I did, this wonderfully touching and often humourous book by a sad, troubled, brilliant human being, who battled with his demons his whole life, trying to give a voice to the lonely, the outcast, the misunderstood...the "gentle people", as he referred to them. We are all contradictory, perhaps those the Gods touch with genius more so than others. It's the totality of a life that matters, and the total sum of his life was that he tried his damndest to be a GOOD MAN. An honest man. And, he also created some of the most brilliant works, with some of the most memorable characters, speaking some of the most beautiful words, in the history of theater. Don't judge dear Tennessee too harshly.