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Buried child
First published 1979 · 120 pages
A surreal, claustrophobic descent into the rotting heart of the American family, where the past refuses to stay buried.
What it feels like
Reading this play feels like sitting in a stifling, dust-choked farmhouse while a slow-moving thunderstorm gathers outside. The atmosphere is immediately oppressive, steeped in a surreal, decaying vision of the American Midwest where nothing is quite as it seems. The dialogue crackles with a dark, biting humor that barely masks the profound psychological rot festering beneath the surface. As the narrative unfolds at a steady, inexorable pace, the sense of dread thickens, pulling you deeper into a claustrophobic nightmare of generational trauma and shattered illusions. It is a gritty, poetic, and deeply unsettling experience, perfect for readers who are drawn to visceral family dramas that violently dismantle the myth of the wholesome American Dream.
- Mood
- claustrophobic
- decaying
- oppressive
- uncanny
- dread-soaked
- Tone
- bleak
- surreal
- darkly comedic
- cynical
- gritty
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- generational trauma · the myth of the American Dream · buried family secrets · familial decay · toxic masculinity
- The writing
- Sharp, colloquial, and rhythmically intense, blending gritty Midwestern realism with unsettling poetic surrealism.
- The arc
- Begins in a state of bizarre, stagnant domesticity and slowly spirals into a horrifying, inevitable confrontation with the past.
- Who it's for
- Fans of dark, psychological theater who enjoy watching the wholesome facade of the American family violently unravel.
Content notes
- infanticide
- incest
- alcoholism
- psychological abuse
- domestic violence
About the book
Contains the script for the 1977 play "Buried Child" in which a family is haunted by the knowledge that their grandfather killed and buried his wife's illegitimate child years earlier.
Description from Open Library.
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