The Seagull by Anton Korenev
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Anton Korenev Entertainment for providing me with an ARC of The Seagull in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
It has been so long since I last read a play. Now that I’m thinking about it, it must be at least ten years. Probably even longer, since I finished my minor in Drama before 2010. Time certainly flies.
Before I started reading The Seagull, I was sure I had heard of the title before. Unfortunately, I just never had the opportunity to read it.
I had a difficult time getting fully immersed in the story, because I was only able to view the file through the NetGalley app on my phone.
Notoriously bad at reading on my phone, I kept forgetting I hadn’t finished it. I know, I’m probably an anomaly. When I did sit down to read for a few minutes, I had trouble adjusting the font and screen dimensions. I lost the page I had been on frequently.
It was a little off-putting.
The Details
The Seagull has a lot of characters. Together with the screen troubles I had, this turned out to become a challenging time keeping track of who is who.
Once I got my bearings a bit, the play turned out to be very entertaining. I enjoyed the characters and hearing about their struggles and problems, real or imagined.
The many interwoven love interests were quite funny. And the amount of subtext that was included in the dialogue provides enough material for long discussions of the philosophical nature.
I liked the time jump and I was very surprised by the ending.
The Verdict
Overall, I rather enjoyed The Seagull. It was different from the plays I had to read back during my undergrad years, and I appreciated the way the author chose to end it.
I would recommend it.
