ŷ

Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

اروی

Rate this book
When Elwood P. Dowd starts to introduce his imaginary friend Harvey, a six and a half foot rabbit, to guests at a dinner party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family from future embarrassment. Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the fringe of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elmwood's hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also! The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn't so bad after all.

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1944

23 people are currently reading
3,003 people want to read

About the author

Mary Chase

14books25followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
4,124 (42%)
4 stars
3,115 (31%)
3 stars
1,872 (19%)
2 stars
486 (4%)
1 star
160 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
Profile Image for Dream.M.
889 reviews432 followers
May 18, 2021
شما اگه یه خرگوش دومتری سفید بودید که کلی توانایی خارق العاده داره، میتونه زمان رو متوقف و آینده رو پیشگویی کنه، و همه جا همراهم دوستش میره، اسمتون چی بود؟
............
نمایشنام "اروی" اثر "مری چیس" نویسنده ایرلندی تبار امریکایی عه که برای نوشتن این نمایشنام جایزه پولیتزر رو برده این نمایشنام بارها روی صحنه رفته و به فیلم هم تبدیل شده و همواره با تحسین تماشاگران همراه بوده.
داستان نمایش درباره یک مرد میانساله که یه دوست خیالی شکل خرگوش سفید دومتری داره به اسم اروی. اونها باهم خیلی خوشن ولی این موضوع برای خواهر و خواهرزاده مرد باعث دردسر شده و اونها رو به این فکر میندازه که مرد( الوود) رو درمان کنن. بنابراین می‌برن� به بیمارستان روانی تا زیر نظر دکتر چارلی درمان بشه. اونجا اتفاقات کمدی باحالی میوفته که در نهایت باعث میشه دکتر چارلی هم اروی رو ببینه، بفهمه چه توانایی هایی داره و بخواد اونو بعنوان دوست خودش داشته باشه. این فقط دکتر چارلی و الوود نیستن که اروی رو میبینن، خواهر الوود و عده ای دیگه هم اونو دیدن ولی معمولا کسی جرات نمیکنه اعتراف کنه چون از واکنش دیگران میترسن. این بین فقط الوود نگران قضاوت دیگران نیست و حتی با کمال میل، اروی رو به همه دوستانش معرفی میکنه.
.......
چیزی که مری چیس توی این نمایشنام سعی میکنه بگه، به عقیده من، اینه که زندگی پره از شادی های کوچیک که ما با جستجو کردن میتونیم اونها رو پیدا کنیم. و فرصت های بینهایت زیادی برای خوشبختی توی زندگی وجود داره که ما به راحتی اونها رو با جدی بودن و معمولی زندگی کردن، از دست میدیم.
الوودِ داستانِ مری چیس، دنبال معجزه توی زندگیش نبود، چون اون خودش معجزه بود. اون میخواست خودش باشه. اون با قلب ساده و مهربونش، مثل یه معجزه، میتونست با همه دوست بشه و توی وجود هرکسی چیز خوشایندی پیدا میکرد تا اونو تحسین کنه. اون اروی رو بخاطر همین روحیه به دست آورد.
من فکر میکنم معجزه همیشه به سراغ ما میاد و فقط باید بهش ایمان داشته باشیم. ذهنمون و قلبمون رو باز کنیم و منتظر باشیم اروی خودمون رو یه شب که به تیر چراغ برق تکیه زده ببینیم که داره بهمون لبخند میزنه. و بعد دستشو بگیریم ببریم خونه .
کسی چه میدونه، شاید منم اروی زندگی یه نفر باشم. اگر براتون اتفاق بیوفتم، منو باور میکنید؟
...........
خب اجازه بدید یه چیز باحال درباره انگیزه خانم چیس از نوشتن این نمایشنام بگم.
اولیش برمیگرده به رویایی که خانم چیس میبینه. اون یک شب توی خواب میبینه که یک خرگوش سفید بزرگ دنبال یک دکتر روانپزشک کرده. و بعد یاد قصه هایی میوفته که داییش توی بچگی از پوکاها تعریف میکرده.( پوکاها خرگوش های سفید شیطون توی افسانه های سلتی هستن.) و اینا رو باهم میکس میکنه تا ازشون داستان بسازه.
دومیش موضوع الهام بخشش هم همسایه بیوه اش بوده که دوتا پسرش رو در جنگ از دست داده بوده و دچار اختلال پی‌تی‌اس‌د� شده بوده . و خانم چیس خیلی دلش میخواسته بتونه دوباره اون خانم رو بخندونه.
این شده که این نمایشنام رو بعد دوسال کار و تلاش نوشته و ازش شاهکار دراورده .
پس همینجوری که بقیه دوستام گفتم، رویاهاتون، یا حتی کابوس ها رو جدی بگیرید و ازش پول دربیارید.
Profile Image for Peiman E iran.
1,437 reviews986 followers
November 3, 2018
‎دوستان� گرانقدر، این نمایشنام، داستانِ مردی 42 ساله و بسیار مهربان و نیک کردار به نامِ <الوود> را بیان میکند.. الوود احساسِ خشم و خشونتی در وجودش ندارد و با همه دوستانه رفتار میکند و بسیار دوست داشتنیست... مادرش به او سفارش کرده است که در این دنیا باید خیلی باهوش و یا خیلی خوش مشرب باشد. از این رو، الوود همیشه تلاش کرده است که باهوش باشد، ولی به دیگران توصیه میکند که خوش مشرب باشند..... الوود هیچگاه ازدواج نکرده و همیشه عاشقِ خانوادهٔ خویش بوده است.. او با خواهرِ بزرگترِ خود، <ویتا> و خواهر زاده اش که دختری مجرد است یعنی <ویرتل می>> زندگی میکند.... مشکل از جایی آغاز میشود که الوود باور دارد که هرکجا و هر زمان، خرگوشی بزرگ و نامرئی که نزدیک به دو متر قد دارد را میبیند.. نامِ این خرگوشِ بزرگ و نامرئی <اروی> میباشد... الوود و اروی برایِ یکدیگر دوستانِ خوبی هستند و آزارشان به کسی نمیرسد.. ولی خیلی ها همچون خواهر و خواهر زاده اش، باور دارند که الوود دیوانه شده و این حال و روزِ الوود سبب شده تا کسی با این خانواده، نشست و برخواست نکند
‎الوو� اینچنین باور دارد که اروی، در اصل یک "پوکا" میباشد... در افسانه هایِ کهن آمده که پووکا یک موجودی همچون پری و فرشته میباشد که در جسمِ یک حیوان پدیدار میشود و همیشه بزرگ به نظر میرسد، ولی بی آزار است و میتواند در هر جا و هر مکانی وارد شود.. الوود بر این باور است که اروی بر زمان و مکان و بسیاری مواردِ دیگر، غلبه دارد
‎ویتا� خواهرِ الوود، تصمیم میگرد تا برادرش را به دکتر چاملی، در تیمارستانِ بیمارانِ روانی، تحویل دهد.. ولی در این میانِ اتفاقاتِ بسیاری پیش می آید و همه چیز دست به دست هم میدهد، تا الوود اسیرِ تیمارستان و داروهایِ بیمارانِ روانی نشود.. گویی اروی به نوعی از وی مراقبت میکند تا به او آسیبی وارد نشود... خوانندهٔ داستان از زمانی به وجودِ اروی و دیوانه نبودنِ الوود شک میکند، که مدیرِ تیمارستان، یعنی دکتر چاملی نیز اروی را میبیند........ عزیزانم، بهتر است خودتان این داستانِ جالب را خوانده و از سرانجامِ داستانِ الوود و خرگوشِ بزرگِ او، آگاه شوید.... عزیزانم، به نظرم، همهٔ ما گاهی اوقات نیاز به یک دوست همچون اروی داریم.. حتی برایِ ساعاتی و حتی برایِ یک روز.. قضاوتِ دیگران نیز در موردمان اهمیت ندارد، بگذار برای لحظاتی ما را دیوانه به شمار آورند... من که این نیاز را برایِ خودم، به خوبی حس میکنم
‎ب� انتخاب، جملاتی را برایتان مینویسم
----------------------------------------------
‎ای� رویاهایِ ماست که باعث میشود، همچنان به زندگی ادامه دهیم... این همان تفاوتِ بینِ ما انسانها با حیوانات میباشد
***
‎عکاسی� فقط واقعیت را نشان میدهد.. ولی نقاشی، نه تنها واقعیت را نشان میدهد، بلکه آن دنیایِ رویایی در پشتِ واقعیت را نیز به نمایش در می آورد
---------------------------------------------
‎امیدوار� این ریویو در جهتِ آشنایی با این کتاب، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
�<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>
Profile Image for Mariel.
667 reviews1,186 followers
February 13, 2012
I want a six foot rabbit for my friend. He doesn't have to be named Harvey. Harry is a good name since Harry Potter came into my life. I didn't like the name Harry before then. If the bunny is a good enough friend any name at all will do. Frank, Fiver, Bigwig, Hazel, Roger Rabbit, Cadbury, Peter Cottontail, the Easter Bunny, the white rabbit, a Canadian bunny voiced by Samantha Morton (that's Max and Ruby to you. Ruby, not Max, I mean). Lennie and George could let me tend the rabbits on their little farm. The madly multiplying rabbits from that Father Ted episode. Or the giant ones in the teletubbies or the giant mutated ones that German guy ate. Was that bunny six feet tall? How could that German eat my friend like that? Fiver didn't even see it coming. I should have after that one German guy on the internet dabbled in cannibalism. Florida or Germany? like that talk tv show segment goes. Tragedy struck both places, this time.
I could draw a rabbit on my arm and pretend I have another few inches. What if I think really hard about rabbits before I go to sleep? Watership Down could be real. How about that? If Harvey were real only for me I might end up in a mental institution or in a time loop before an airplane crashes into my bedroom. That wouldn't be good. Harvey would beat me in scrabble on game night. Fiver would spell out prophetic words of danger and I wouldn't hear him because the V is worth four points and on a triple word score. Beaten again! Think of the other fun we could have. I'd chase the rabbit and he'd always be faster than me. He'd make it look like I was talking to myself whenever anyone else was around. He'd think it was hilarious any time any one thought I was nuts. We'd eat healthy cereal. I'd even be healthier because sugar cereals are bad for you. My enemies would have rabbit poop in place of their trail mix. Not healthier.

The bitchy girl I called "rabbit" a few years ago because her nose was always wrinkled and she looked like she had whiskers need not apply for position of BFF. She will not be accepted.
The playboy bunnies would be better appreciated elsewhere, as well.

I'm not crazy. Don't begrudge me my dream. If Tom Hanks can be Jimmy Stewart version two because Stewart died and a few critics named him king means that I can be Jimmy Stewart version three if some other person dies (not Jake Gyllenhaal!) and a bunch of people go along with my idea. How about it? Bigwig makes me happy. Why isn't every book as good as Watership Down?

I'm not even year of the rabbit. My zodiac year is the sheep. Well, fuck.

P.s. The movie and play is cute as hell other than the boring parts not about Harvey.

P.s.s. The white rabbit stood me up.

P.s.s.s. I'm going to go take 100 "which animal are you quizzes" online until I get one which says what I want it to say (a rabbit).
Profile Image for Mahdi ■L■.
51 reviews8 followers
April 3, 2024
مادرم، همیشه به من می گفت: «الوود»، در این دنیا یا باید خیلی باهوش باشی، یا خیلی خوش مشرب. من سال ها باهوش بودم، پیشنهاد می کنم خوش مشرب باشید»

این� نمایشنام رو به هیچ وجه از دست ندید.
Profile Image for Calista.
5,186 reviews31.3k followers
September 4, 2019
For some reason, I am interested in reading plays right now, especially ones I haven't seen. I never saw this as a play or the movie.

Reading the play has me interested in seeing it on stage. I think it would be entertaining. It was funny and parts of the play interact quickly.

The character I related most too and loved the most was Elwood, the crazy uncle who sees the Pooka, but he isn't the only one to see him. The rest of the characters are supposedly sane and I don't like any of them. That is pretty much the argument in the end too. Elwood is kind and gentle and is truly interested in people. His sister Veta and Dr. Chumley both see Harvey - the white rabbit Pooka.

I do love a madcap comedy. Frazier did that so well. Everyone is looking for Elwood and he always is just a step ahead of them, but not on purpose. He's just being himself.

I though this play was fascinating and it has me interested in seeing this live. I want to see how it all works on stage. Reading these old plays has been fun so far and I'm enjoying how different they are.
Profile Image for Marziye.
45 reviews2 followers
July 14, 2020
کاش پوکا ایمان ما رو بعد از ظاهر شدنش می‌خواس�...! 😁

(پی‌نوش� کتاب: پوکا در افسانه‌ها� ایرلندی موجودی حیله‌گ� است که تنها برای کسانی که او را باور داشته باشند ظاهر می‌شو�.)
Profile Image for Anna Avian.
609 reviews117 followers
August 4, 2020
Harvey is a charming, funny story about a kind man who has a six foot rabbit for a friend. A person you would enjoy having a drink with, even if you’re a nondrinker. Elwood has the ability to find a friend in each person he meets, and even though he is considered to be insane, has realized that life is simply about finding happiness.
Profile Image for Mohammad.
138 reviews52 followers
December 16, 2016
من نمایش رو دیدم. اینقدر زیبا بود که نمیخوام نمایشنام رو بخونم. فوق العاده بود، هم خود نمایشنام، هم کارگردانی و هم بازی بازیگران مخصوصا جناب کاظم سیاحی. انصافا لذت بردم.
Profile Image for Kim.
35 reviews2 followers
February 14, 2010
I was pleased to find that the stage play was not altered all that much when made into a film, which is where I, like most people, first met Elwood P. Down and his pooka-friend Harvey. The play, of course, uses fewer locations, but much stronger language than the film censors would have allowed. Several lines from the play have stayed with me, mainly because they caught me off-guard the first time I heard them. But the line I recall most often since I first saw the film is spoken by Elwood about halfway through Act 3. Elwood is explaining why he won't get indignant about his sister's attempt to have him locked away in Chumley's Rest Home and take his power of attorney. He says: "Dr. Chumley, my mother used to say to me, 'In this world, Elwood'--she always called me Elwood--she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.' For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."
Profile Image for Bailey.
229 reviews7 followers
January 16, 2011
"Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, 'In this world, Elwood, you must be' -- she
always called me Elwood -- 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.'
Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me."
Profile Image for Saaye Tafreshi.
121 reviews13 followers
October 20, 2018
دکتر چاملی ، مادرم همیشه به من می گفت:((الوود، تو این دنیا))-اون همیشه من رو الوود صدا می کرد- اون به من می گفت:((الوود،تو این دنیا یا باید خیلی باهوش باشی و یا خیلی خوش مشرب)) .من سال ها باهوش بودم ،اما پیشنهاد می کنم خوش مشرب باشید.
نمایشنام زیبایی بود و الوود شخصیت دوست داشتنی داشت
Profile Image for Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog.
1,020 reviews59 followers
January 23, 2022
There seem to be a few too many dystopian novels on the list of reviews, a winter of too many storms and the realization that the shift from pandemic to endemic is not a certain good thing, and then there is the 1954 Pulitzer Prize winning play by Mary Chace: Harvey, a Comedy in 3 acts. It is mostly an actor’s comedy with much of the best humor not in the occasional word play and few repetitions of the single pie in the face gag line from early in act one. Instead done properly the actors must play the situations straight. Not so much as a wink at the audience, but making sure the audience knows that the situation is what makes Harvey a hot chocolate with foam on top kind of time away from the hard news.

Most likely, many of us have seen and enjoyed the well-done movie starring the spot on Jimmy Stewart as the heavy drinking, slightly pixilated Elwood P. Dowd.

Against those who complain that the movie makes too light on the subjects of mental illness and alcoholism. I would argue that it makes the case that the business of judging who is mentally ill is left open as is the question of who among us is qualified to make that judgement. Otherwise: Ok your right. You are welcome to skip it and move on.

Elwood P. Dowd, having presented us with is card and the instructions as to which phone number we should use, and an invitation to join him for drinks, dinner and to drop in, would also observe that “In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant, well for years I was smart... I recommend pleasant, and you may quote me.� And that is about as heavy as the play will get.

The basic plot revolves around Elwood P. Dowd, his very close friend, a pooka named Harvey, who appears to Elwood P. Dowd as a talking 6-foot-tall rabbit, his sister, Veta (Elwood P. Dowd’s Sister, not Harvey’s sister, who we may assume does not have a sister, which may seem odd for a rabbit, even a 6-foot-tall rabbit) and niece Myrtle. Sister and niece want him confined to a mental hospital so that they can have control of his apparently well-funded estate, and marry off the daughter without having to deal with an invisible rabbit and a stream of strangers spontaneously invited to dinner.

The thing is that Veta admits to the doctor at the rest home, that she occasionally sees Harvey and in the confusion with the hospital staff, hilarity and romance ensue.

As a read, the play can be a tad uneven. Very little happens and most of the last act can seem flat. Rather than more oh so intelligent analysis, Harvey is a quick read, hardly as long as the movie. Between the play as text, or as the movie, the movie, by having Jimmy Stewart and some nicely cast if less known performers may be the better way to lighten you day.
Profile Image for Jaksen.
1,557 reviews85 followers
April 22, 2021
OMG I love this play!

Now and then I feel the need, or desire, to just sit and read a play. I like to do this when I'm alone, preferably, and can read the lines out loud - well, some of them. This time I just read quietly as the April weather promised great things, then let ... me ... down.

The story of Elwood P. Dowd and his friend, a giant and invisible 'pooka' or hobgoblin, or mischievous spirit who exists in the form of a rabbit. Yeah, Elwood sees him, talks to him, introduces him to 'high society' types all in a genuinely serious manner. Also, the story of Veta, Elwood's long-suffering sister who'd like to advance in said society and get her hands on the house Elwood owns, so she frantically tries to maneuver Elwood into a sanatorium. The two play off each other wonderfully and though I've never seen the play on the stage, the movie version with Jimmy Stewart as Elwood Dowd is wonderful!

Written in 1945, it does have a few moments where you might go, what? He said or did what to who? Yeah, some minor issues between men and women, but in the 40's people must have roared. I try to set myself in the era or time a play has been written, not always easy, but you can overlook the few instances this happens here. (I think.) Elwood, however, is the complete gentleman and so is the pooka!

Five stars!
Profile Image for Farnoosh.
15 reviews11 followers
September 27, 2018
آخ که چقد دلم برای قهرمانای ساده دل و دوست داشتنی داستانا تنگ شده بود
خب من اونقدر که رمان خوندم نمایشنام نخوندم ولی تا همینجا اروی رو یکی از بهترینا میدونم و خوندنش برام خیال شیرینی بود
الوود زمانی مثل بقیه مردم بوده، همه دوستش داشتن، به قول قاضی: زمانی صندوق پستی مادرش پر ازنامه های معطر کوچیک برای الوود بوده
اما نه از وقتی که با اروی پرسه میزنه
یه خرگوش بزرگ شش ونیم فوتی که یه روز الوود اون رو میبینه و از اون به بعد همه جا همراه الووده و الوود هم اون رو به هر کسی که باهاش احوال پرسی میکنه معرفی میکنه و اصلا واسش مهم نیست مردم عکس العمل بدی نشون بدن
الوود بعد از دیدن اروی تغییر میکنه
حتی دیالوگی که چندبار تو متن تکرار شده که میگه:
"اگه خواستید با من تماس بگیرید با این شماره جدید تماس بگیرید، اون شماره قدیمی شده"
نشون میده الوود تغییر کرده
همه چیزو خوب میبینه هر بار طوری از زیبایی دوشیزه کلی تعریف میکنه انگار دفه اولیه که اونو می بینه طوری که بالاخره دکتر سندرسون هم متوجه ش میشه و دیگه کشش قلبی ش رو به پرستار با کنایه های تلخ و گزنده پنهان نمی کنه
این یعنی چیزهای جزئی که برای ما تکراری و عادی شدن و دیگه اونا ور نمیبینیم هنوز میتونن جذاب باشن
صحنه ی اومدن راننده تاکسی قسمت جالبی بود و دوسش داشتم نه فقط به خاطر اون دیالوگ خوب مقایسه آدما قبل از اومدن به آسایشگاه و وقتی از اونجا میرن
چون تو این صحنه همه آدمایی خودشونو کاملا نرمال میدونستن اونقدر روابط شون برای هم سست و بی اهمیت بود که همه از دادن دو دلار و 75سنت شونه خالی کردن و این وسط فقط الوود بود که با روی خوش اومد و کرایه رو تمام وکمال حتی با نعام داد
نمایشنام اروی شیرین بود و پراستعاره
طنزش داستان هم کاملا خوب دراومده بود

واقعا کیه که دلش یه اروی درکنارش نخواد؟
یا یه دوست محشری مثل الوود؟
-----------------------------------------------------------------
جاهایی که بیشتر دوست داشتم :
📌آقای دود، می بینم شما از اون دسته افرادی نیستید که بشه اون ها رو تو تعارفات مشغول کرد و یا با اون ها روراست حرف نزد
📌من وقتی از کسی خوشم بیاد دوست دارم با اون بمونم
📌فکر میکنم اگه آدم پول داشته باشه به مردم بده می تونه اون ها رو قانع به انجام هر کاری بکنه
📌دکتر من چهل سال با واقعیت جنگیدم و خوشحالم که اعلام کنم بالاخره بر اون پیروز شدم
📌برای شما هرکاری میکنم. تقریبا می تونم دوباره از اول هم زندگی کنم
📌سندرسون:دود خوب فکر کن. زمانی، جایی، کسی رو نمی شناختی که اسمش اروی باشه؟ هیچ کسی رو با این اسم نمی شناختی؟
الوود:نه دکتر، هیچ کس. شاید برای همین همیشه دوست داشتم چنین کسی وجود داشته باشه.
📌تو هر بحثی عنصری از کشمکش چیز خوبی یه. این معنی رو میده که همه دارند شرکت میکنند و کسی جا نمونده. خوشم میاد
📌من همیشه تو همون جایی که هستم وبا هرکسی که هستم لحظات خوشی رو دارم. من همین الان با شما هم لحظات خوبی رو دارم دکتر
📌مادرم همیشه به من میگفت:"الوود تو این دنیا" - اون همیشه من رو الوود صدا میکرد-اون به من میگفت :"الوود تو این دنیا یا باید خیلی باهوش باشی یا خیلی خوش مشرب"
من سال ها باهوش بودم، اما پیشنهاد میکنم خوش مشرب باشید. میتونید از من نقل قول کنید
📌خانم از این به بعد اون یه آدم کاملا نرمال میشه و شما میدونید آدم های نرمال چه حروم زاده هایی اند
📌دکتر من سال ها می دونستم خانواده ی من در مورد اروی چه فکری میکنن، اما همیشه دلم میخواست بدونم خانواده اروی در مورد من چه فکری میکنند
Profile Image for Mike.
188 reviews19 followers
January 16, 2009
This is a short play, with about a dozen characters, but it joyfully combines mysticism, alcoholism, kindness, good-fellowship, and thoughts on sanity/insanity together to create a memorable character. I read it aloud with my kids, ages 14 and 11, taking various parts. I didn't tell them beforehand about Elwood P. Dowd's mysterious friend, but they were delighted as Harvey emerged, made his presence known in the play, and eventually saved Dowd from a sinister-sounding "treatment".

Good fun and farce, with the message of preferring pleasantness to smarts a very sweet one indeed.
Profile Image for Kim.
50 reviews20 followers
August 4, 2011
This is one of my all time favorite plays. I had the honor of directing it with a great cast. The idea that life is simply finding happiness and exploring that is so lovely. I envy Elwood's ability to find a friend in each person he meets. He can find pleasantries in each encounter and if there are none, he simply moves on to the next encounter. Harvey gives Elwood the ability to search out the little joys in life. Having a pooka to teach you, join you, and be with would be a nice day. And the chance of stopping time is always an alluring possibility.
Profile Image for Lauren.
1,447 reviews75 followers
October 19, 2018
Funnier than expected. A grown man has an imaginary friend � a six-foot-tall bunny named Harvey � and his sister, somewhat understandably, wants to have him committed. A comedy of errors ensues that suggests Harvey is, in fact, real (and also invisible), while also making readers / viewers question how we define sanity. The play introduces a lot of concepts and ideas that would shape the mid-century American theatre, but Ms. Chase’s ability to play with the absurd while keeping her characters grounded is rare. Highly recommended.
Profile Image for Kaya Lynch.
443 reviews78 followers
November 12, 2018
That was surprisingly enjoyable, and left me with quite a few deep thoughts to think about! And it was short which was nice.
Profile Image for Brooklyn Minson.
11 reviews
November 9, 2024
I actually watched this one but since it’s a script, my teacher counts it ☺️. It was very very mid though.
Profile Image for Alex Mitchell.
Author3 books4 followers
December 14, 2014
“Harvey.� If you’re familiar with the movie starring James Stewart, then you know the story. However, not even Stewart’s wonderfully endearing portrayal of Elwood lets you delve into the depths of Mary Chase’s moving story. For that, only immersing yourself in the dialogue of her play from 1943, originally titled “The White Rabbit,� will do. And it’s well worth your time for Mary Chase does what all great artists do, she takes life’s most profound questions and creates an effortless comedy. We laugh our way through it and come out the wiser for having pondered the existence of a six foot tall white rabbit.


“� my mother used to say to me, ‘In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.� For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.�

“Doctor, I wrestled with reality for forty years, and I am happy to state that I finally won out over it.�

Elwood is a kind, gentle, and generous man, who to his family’s dismay never “did anything� with his life. Not only does Elwood pay little attention to his responsibilities and duties as a member of his community and social class, but he has the audacity to enjoy himself among the company of strangers wherever he happens to find himself, usually over a few drinks in any of the local bars in town. He treats everyone with the same courtesy and curiosity inherent in his way of being. Now add Harvey, his best friend, to the mix and you have a recipe for comedy. You see, Harvey happens to be a six foot tall white rabbit. He appeared out of nowhere and happened into Elwood’s life like a miracle. And although we meet Elwood after having been friends with Harvey for quite some time, we realize that when they first met, Elwood had a choice. He could choose to believe or not to believe in Harvey.

Elwood is so delighted with Harvey’s company that he introduces him to everyone. This is quite uncomfortable for most folks although it doesn’t seem to faze Elwood. The people closest to him, his sister Veta and her daughter Myrtle Mae, along with a close friend of the family Judge Gaffney, are determined to bring him back to reality. They want him to be “normal,� they want to get rid of that damn rabbit. This leads to several hilarious encounters at Chumley’s Rest - a sanitarium for mental patients. On one such encounter, a cab driver effectively sums up for Veta how Elwood will change after receiving any kind of treatment there:

“Lady, after this, he’ll be a perfectly normal human being and you know what bastards they are!�

To find out what happens to Elwood, you’ll have to read the play. But regardless of how it ends, we will never know if Elwood wondered why others couldn’t see Harvey or if he wondered why they couldn’t admit to seeing Harvey. Elwood’s way was to be pleasant and kind. Elwood’s choice was to live in a friendly world where reality and magic coexist. He surely felt that everyone else could live in the same way.

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.�
- Albert Einstein

Harvey happened into Elwood’s life like a miracle. But not because Elwood was looking for a miracle. Just the opposite is true. Elwood was happy being Elwood. And that is why he could see Harvey in the first place. That is how all wonderful new things come to us in this life. Not because we chase after them, not because we feel we are lacking without them. We find only what we already are. Be magic, find magic. Believe in miracles, see miracles.

If Harvey happened into your life, would you believe?


“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.�
- Albert Einstein



(I do not know if Albert Einstein was familiar with Mary Chase’s play. She won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for “Harvey� in 1945, ten years before Albert Einstein died. Maybe he knew of it, maybe not. His words seemed to me to be a perfect fit for writing about Elwood. And I can’t help but smile thinking about how he might have enjoyed this play.)
Profile Image for Carolyn Page.
1,622 reviews38 followers
July 7, 2022
I'd love to see this on stage. My favorite quote: "In this world you have to be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, I've been smart for over 40 years and I'd recommend pleasant".
Profile Image for Yehia Nasser.
119 reviews61 followers
October 1, 2015
Harvey and I sit in the bars... have a drink or two... play the juke box. And soon the faces of all the other people they turn toward mine and they smile. And they're saying, "We don't know your name, mister, but you're a very nice fella." Harvey and I warm ourselves in all these golden moments. We've entered as strangers - soon we have friends. And they come over... and they sit with us... and they drink with us... and they talk to us. They tell about the big terrible things they've done and the big wonderful things they'll do. Their hopes, and their regrets, and their loves, and their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. And then I introduce them to Harvey... and he's bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed. The same people seldom come back; but that's envy, my dear. There's a little bit of envy in the best of us.
Profile Image for Chris.
400 reviews3 followers
February 13, 2014
Harvey is a wonderful film starring James Stewart as the charismatic and kind Elwood P Dowd who wanders around his hometown accompanied by an invisible 6 foot 1 inch rabbit called 'Harvey' who no-one can see except Elwood. Although harmless and pleasant to everyone Elwood is taken to be a madman by his long suffering sister and niece who spend the film trying to have him committed.

Before it was made into a film Harvey was a very successful stage play and this little book is the play in full including stage direction etc.

I enjoyed the book as it is true to the story told in the film and much of the dialogue is identical. The story is great fun and often very funny but it does have a serious side to it about human relationships and tolerance for each other. I enjoyed the story a good deal. If you are a fan of the James Stewart film I recommend it!
Profile Image for Emma.
116 reviews7 followers
July 28, 2008
Okay so I went to get a head start on my all school reading only to find that pages 27-42 in my Harvery had been replaced with pages 43-58. So I could read pages 43-58 twice but it would require me to miss a good portion of the first act... Why when I am trying to get a head start on something does the universe put it's foot down?
Profile Image for Nazanin.
12 reviews6 followers
November 20, 2015
it was an interesting book.situation comedy plus simplicity and implicity.
Profile Image for Mia.
9 reviews39 followers
November 15, 2018
This book/play was very... odd. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was very strange.
Profile Image for Amirhosein Aleavaz.
87 reviews43 followers
December 18, 2018
بریده‌ا� از کتاب :
مادرم همیشه به من می‌گف� ، در این دنیا یا باید خیلی باهوش باشی ، یا خیلی خوش‌مشر�.
من سال‌ه� باهوش بودم ، پیشنهاد می‌کن� خوش‌مشر� باشید.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.