Lost in Yonkers | Literary Criticism & Book Review

Lost in Yonkers Critical Overview

The critical reception of Lost in Yonkers has been mixed since it was first published in 1991. Part of this has to do with Simon's status as an extremely popular playwright. When a playwright—or any other writer, for that matter—sells a lot of books or performances, some critics tend to view this as a sign that the writer is not artistic. Indeed, Simon received some scathing initial reviews. In his review of the play for the New Leader, Stefan Kanfer says, "Watching Simon work with this material is like viewing Bob Vila on reruns of This Old House." Kanfer also notes that Simon's goal is "To please ticketholders" and that he does this by creating "a situation tragedy" and covering it "in pastel shades." Kanfer was not alone in the negative comments. In her review of the play for the New Yorker, Mimi Kramer says that some of the characters...
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