The Pillowman

I was truly mesmerized by this play. I can honestly say this is now up there as one of my favorite books to read, which is surprising because most of my top picks are either by James Patterson, Tom Clancy, or Stephen King. I think one reason I loved this play was for the sole fact I can relate to it. Katurian was like the spitting image of me in my eyes. I put my heart & soul into writing & I rather see my pieces of art live on opposed to myself. I guess for me it's an ego thing. I rather people remember me for what I did than who I was. He seemed to have been the same way. Like, he was a righteous person for taking the heat for his brother even if he did "Pillowman" him by killing Michal before he would befall an even more tragic fate. It would be sweeter to have a loved one take your life opposed to some people who knew that you were misunderstood.

His matyrdom, sacricing himself for his beliefs, was what made me feel shitty at the end of the play. When I read that he got shot in the head & his last dying remarks were making another story just really hit home. Even on his last dying breath he did what he did best; storytell. It reminded me of when Plato wrote about Socrates & his deathbed. Socrates was with his two friends & all he did while waiting for the hemlock to arrive was philosophize, which was what he was sent to death for. Katurian & Socrates were one & the same & if I were put in his shoes, I could easily see myself doing the same exact thing.

I love the delicious twist of irony at the end, though, how the novels were set ablaze just like the ending of the actual story Pillowman. For the Pillowman, it was a release & even with Katurian, it was a cleansing process as well. As his writings died, so did he, & was sent to a better place, just like the Pillowchild had done for the Pillowman.

As a tangent, though, I think it would have been quite bad ass if they had each story mentioned in the play [Pillowman, The Little Jesus, The Green Pig, etc.] could have been written in the back of the book so if people were interested in reading the whole novel by Katurian, it could be an option to further understand how Michal believed it was meant to be a reason to kill outside of the obvious facts they told us.