Nocturne: A Play (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780571211326)

A devastating, elegant, and gripping dissection of the American dream, Adam Rapp's Nocturne signals a brave new voice in American theater.

"Fifteen years ago I killed my sister."

So begins Adam Rapp's highly acclaimed play Nocturne, in which a 32-year-old former piano prodigy recounts the tragic events that tore his family apart.

With a keen eye for human relationships and a deft ear for language, Rapp explores the aftershock of this unimaginable event. The father is so incapable of forgiveness he puts a gun in his son's mouth; the mother so shattered, she deserts the family and eventually takes leave of her sanity altogether; the son--only 17 years old at the time--sets out for New York City. There, he seeks an uneasy refuge in books and reinvents himself as a writer. Across the decade and a half that follows he tries to cope with the ramifications of his own anguish and estrangement while making a desperate search for redemption.

Author: Adam Rapp
ISBN-10: 0571211321
ISBN-13: 9780571211326
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English
Published: 02/10/2002
Pages: 96
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.22lbs
Size: 8.36h x 5.58w x 0.26d
Award: Saroyan Writing Prize - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 01/01/2002 pg. 794
Library Journal 02/15/2002 pg. 144