ASRC 2022 Week 2 (6/27-7/3/22)

Hello and welcome to Adult Summer Reading Club 2022 Week 2! Don't forget to register. And if you need a refresher, here are the rules.

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Week 2 Board

And here are our staff reviews for the week:

Elias: This week, I rolled a 5 and ended up landing on "Visual and Performing Arts." I was running out of time since I rolled mid-week so I decided to read a play rather than try to do any non-fiction book related to the topic. I chose A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, a play that does what all great plays do: use the specific to tell something universal yet remains inextricably linked to that specificity. For example: the play is about the Younger family's struggles with poverty, inter-generational differences in world view, and the expectations of gender rolls. It asks who is allowed to dream and what is an appropriate sacrifice for said dreams. It asks what hold the past has upon us, why, and what effect that has on the growth and arc of a person's life.

Yet Raisin would not be as good as it is were it not tackling and presenting the realities of racial tensions and discrimination; in fact, it would not work at all. The Youngers are Black and this informs everything about their story: the reason for their poverty despite them working themselves to the bone, the specific family dynamics and tensions, the pride they hold, and even the meaning of the ending.

While not perfect, it drags a little in the middle, Raisin hit with the force of a thunderclap. It has earned its place as a classic American play that reveals much about ourselves, our nation, and what it means to dream.

4.5/5 Stars

We'll see you back on the 5th for the start of week 3! (We're closed Monday for the 4th of July.)