Fortune and Men's Eyes

by John Herbert

Book by Herbert, John

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Fiction, LGBT, Read For School, Canada

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll be right upfront, I'm giving this book 5 stars because one tight-ass who didn't even finish the work gave it 1 star because of all the awful, awful eroticism. I cannot abide prudes. Also, I have seen productions and there isn't much sex, though the dramatic conflict revolves around it.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I played Smitty in this at the Underground Theater in Los Angeles July 24th - August 3rd, 2008. It was a pretty intense show!

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

After watching the film version of Fortune And Men's Eyes I felt dissatisfied, feeling the film didn't do the play justice without even having read it. So I did the proper thing and read the play and I'm glad I did.

Smitty's the new fish in the cell block and shares a cell with the uber-swishy Queenie, the rough trade bully Rocky and prison bride Mona. Throughout the play we're schooled on the customs and roles played while doing time. Smitty's a pretty eager student, learning all the ins and outs of the jailhouse jungle.

In the first act Smitty is the straight-bait virgin and by the second act he transitions into a bigger butch bully than Rocky himself. I wish the play went further in the second act with more bad boy antics of Smitty, but this play's pretty slight, clocking in at less than 88 pages.

I also liked the rich Canadian references all through the play: shout outs to Ottawa, reservation huffers and psycho Iroquois. I'll bet Pierre, Margaret and Justin Trudeau all saw this one. BTW, this is the last play Sal Mineo worked on before his death, and it co-starred Don Johnson as Smitty.

[Andrew Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

this movie was so brutal and shocking, obviously they can't do all of that in a play but the text feels so hokey (like the Jets' lines in west side story tbh) all weird slang and old-times speak to a point where you almost need a translator. would be interested in seeing it performed

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fortune and Men's Eyes is something I took a lot away from and that I'm grateful that I read but also not something I particularly enjoyed. It was interesting to see this portrayal of queer experiences in Canadian penitentiaries, especially as a queer Canadian with an interest in history. I know Queenie is considered a self-insert character, and that Mona's story of arrest was very similar to Herbert's own. The brutality of it all feels very real, but I had a hard time connecting with it in a way that was more than just painful. The characters were compelling; Smitty is an interesting protagonist to follow and Mona is incredibly sympathetic. Overall, I think I would have a hard time recommending it just because of the combination of how brutal it is and how specific to its own time it is. That said, I'm still grateful to have read it, and I wouldn't advise against reading it for anyone who knows what they're going into.

[plontae · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit holy shit holy shit

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intense! And bleak

[Austin Forsyth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. I now need to see how it is performed on stage.