The Stonemason: A Play in Five Acts

Authors understanding of stone masonry is at a level most people can’t grasp. And even fewer have put into words. From a stone workers point of view it is a must read.

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The Stonemason is the rare work by Cormac McCarthy that is ultimately uplifting. That is not to disparage his great, dark works like the All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men, but The Stonemason is McCarthy at his best with a positive message to boot.

4 stars because there was some problems with dialect, there was some problem with speech for the characters and by plays-end it was obvious that McCarthay was speaking his own philosophy--not that there is something so wrong with that but I found something uneven about it. ALL IN ALL: McCarthy is just what people say about him: a true writer, his characters do come alive even in this play; he can deliver a story in an amazing literary way; he is funny. He is right on. A white man writing black people...now that was a challenge for me to read neutrally to see how he did. Well, he did it well but it wasn't pure because "Negro" culture was anti-suicide in a big way. But all is forgiven for the way McCarthy presented "Pawpa" and his vibrant feelings about his 80-yr career as a stonemason. The old man felt like a person during times when society seemed dead set at preventing all Negro men from feeling their own person and manhood. AMAZING ALSO that McCarthy makes no big effort to demonstrate racism or talk about it too much. There was more happening in this family's life and times than racism. I just loved this reading experience. I love it that Mc Carthy was able to deliver a full story in a play.--MO

Good