I am honestly not entirely sure what I thought of this? (NB: I only read The Real Inspector Hound, not any of the other plays.) On the one hand, it was a fun little one act play that took me around twenty minutes to read, and it made me laugh, and it made me go, what the hell? On the other hand, I’m 100% positive I missed things, and the cleverness of this play almost entirely went over my head. All I could think of to […]
Will the Real Inspector Hound please stand up?
When faintingviolet told me that the next book club topic was going to be plays, I immediately thought of The Real Inspector Hound. I had never read it, but I had seen it performed in college, and it was by far one of the better plays I had seen. I remembered that it was funny and entertaining, and on the lighter side as well. (And luckily for people who are not all that terribly fond of reading plays, on the short side!) So, if you […]
The Real in the Title Means Nothing
I always get a smidge nervous reviewing short works and book club choices. This one is both. Exciting times friends! My immediate takeaway when I finished was that it may be too absurdist for me. But that doesn’t quite grasp the idea I was after. From my limited experience with Stoppard, he is always playing with words, playing with meaning, playing with intent, and has no problem (perhaps prefers) to have his characters speaking at cross purposes. What that does to a reader is leave […]
Book Club Discussion Post: The Real Inspector Hound
Are you ready for our final book club of the year? Well, ready or not here we go to cap off another year of reading and discussing together! The Real Inspector Hound is a quick, funny play where Tom Stoppard takes aim at theatre, critics, reality, and fate. While its one act zips by in 50 pages or less, it still manages to have opinions about our place in the world around us. Ground rules remain the same as before, discuss in the comments below, […]
Discussion Topics: The Real Inspector Hound
It’s time for a trip to the theatre! Have you read The Real Inspector Hound? It’s a quick, light, funny read where Tom Stoppard takes aim at theatre, critics, reality, and fate. All of which we’ll be talking about in our final book club of the year. Are you looking to view a version of the play before discussing? A fellow cannonballer (h/t crystalclear) sent this link along, saying she thought it was the best available. Dig out your theatre best and we’ll reconvene here […]
Book Announcement: #CannonBookClub Reads a Play
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard
To quote a literary legend “The play’s the thing!” and we’ll be reading and discussing Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound on Wednesday December 13, 2017. I have posted Discussion Topics post as a reminder to finish up and food for thought. As in Book Clubs past, feel free to visit us here on the group blog for the dedicated post or in our Facebook Cannonball Read Book Chat group where I’ll have even more topics to discuss. Here’s a synopsis of our choice: The ultimate parody of the stage […]