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A review by anisha_inkspill
Not I by Samuel Beckett
4.0
Just a mouth telling a story of woman’s life makes this an unsettling play.
The … that breaks up the phrases in this monologue invites me to read it fast but I read it slowly.
What emerges is a picture of how suffering shapes this woman’s life. What makes this story startling is how Beckett tells it.
The play ends on a positive note, the woman has finally, finally found relief and she’s happy about this. This takes me a long moment to process; what sticks is it takes her seventy years to find this.
Through the story fragments I see her suffering and the length of her suffering which feel undeserved. This injustice is more glaring to me than the honest picture this play draws of the pointlessness of suffering.
The … that breaks up the phrases in this monologue invites me to read it fast but I read it slowly.
What emerges is a picture of how suffering shapes this woman’s life. What makes this story startling is how Beckett tells it.
The play ends on a positive note, the woman has finally, finally found relief and she’s happy about this. This takes me a long moment to process; what sticks is it takes her seventy years to find this.
Through the story fragments I see her suffering and the length of her suffering which feel undeserved. This injustice is more glaring to me than the honest picture this play draws of the pointlessness of suffering.