suicide
‘night Mother
After an unscheduled delay caused mostly by a certain male sibling’s recent life changes/laziness, Novel Ideas returns with ‘night Mother by Marsha Norman. We read this play because it is award winning and unlike our previous two plays, written by a female playwright. We brought back special guest Jessica Showers (at least at the time of recording) because she works in the theater industry. In this episode, we discuss women and Broadway, depression, conformity, and detachment. We also talk about the possibility of cotagonists, Sno Balls (and how they are the worst), candy, and a few terrible alternate endings.
The music bump is “Communication” by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and was inspired by our discussion of the theme of the play.
‘night Mother – Suicide is Hard to Joke About
Recommendations:
An award winning play that would definitely be worth seeing staged. Is it worth reading? Tougher question to answer.
Gabs: 7/10. Interesting, but hasn’t stuck with me completely.
Ben: 7/10. About the same.
Every Day
Welcome back to Novel Ideas for this week’s second episode. Monday’s post was intended for last week, but we weren’t quite able to get it finished up in time. This one gets us caught up for the two weeks. What is this one? It is Every Day by David Levithan, a book about a teenager who wakes up in a new body every morning. There is a lot to discuss in this one, as David Levithan does his best to hit every item on the controversial YA checklist. So tune in to hear us talk about teenage romance, suicide, alcohol use, and love. Especially love. Lots of love in this episode. Does love conquer all? Can you love somebody for who they are rather than what they are? What are the practical issues surrounding love? When does love cross the line into being a creepy stalker? We probably don’t answer any of these questions, but we do talk about them. A whole bunch.
The music bump is “Rhiannon” by Fleetwood Mac, chosen both for sharing a name with the love interest in this book and for being specifically referenced in the text.
Novel Ideas 