The Swearing Jar

by Kate Hewlett

Meet Carey and Simon, an otherwise-perfect married couple with a bit of a swearing problem. They're determined to kick the habit by the time their baby is born. Too bad that's not their only problem. Simon has a secret. And Carey has a new friend--a musician named Owen that she met at a bookstore. With quirky characters, music and gentle humour, this lovely and intricately-constructed story is about meeting challenges head-on and finding hope.

Genres: Plays

82 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2013

Reviews

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine, and quite funny in places, but not really my cup of tea. I'm not much a fan of stories (or plays, apparently) that hinge on a Big Reveal; I'd rather have the situation laid out up front, and see how it all unfolds, than be missing a key piece of information from the get-go. Definitely preferred this to Naked in the Kitchen, which has a similar reveal but lower stakes—here, we learn late late late in the play that Simon has died of an aneurysm, so Carey is single-parenting and not actually cheating on him; there, we learn late in the play that Charlie has had some relatively nonproblematic cancer. Well done and all, but not one I'm likely to return to.

[Michelle Marr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet, sad story! I didn’t realize it was written as a play. Looking forward to seeing the movie now. Love Carey and Simon’s relationship.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

The reason I chose to read this book was solely based on its author. For those who don’t know Kate, she appeared in Stargate Atlantis as Jeannie (the sister of the character, Rodney McKay). I didn’t read any spoilers beforehand, so aside from the blurb, I didn’t know what to expect. It isn’t a long read – I read it in less than an hour – but it did keep my interest… which is odd as I have mixed reviews regarding the story itself. Its format is that of a screenplay which can be jarring for some, but it took most of the play to figure out the actual timescale for the story as it isn’t made clear. The scenes which were depicted as “memories” also helped when trying to understand the chain of events. I had a feeling that a twist was coming – and I was right, but it wasn’t the twist I was expecting. Nor did I expect to get emotional when I realized what had happened to one of the characters.

Speaking of characters, I didn’t particularly like the character of Owen. He was too forward and just “too much” for me. Aside from that, I quite liked the portrayal of Carey and Simon’s relationship.

[Denise Goodkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a script for a play. It is really quite good, but even better to see it on stage ( which I did ).

[Cindy Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of lovely, though bittersweet.

[Mikennah Oleson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the framework, but accidentally guessed the twist like, 10 pages in :P

[A M H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a mixed opinion about this story.

On one hand, it's difficult because this story rides on the relationship of two couples and unfortunately, if you don't like one of the couples, you might not like the majority of the book. At least, that’s what happened to me. I also didn’t find the jokes funny.

However, I did enjoy Owen and Carey's relationship at least and wish there was more with them. I was also interested in the ending. It's kind of a bummer though. Just as it got good it ended.

So, I guess my conclusion would be that it took a while, but the ending payoff was good enough. I’m also curious about how the movie will turn out and wish them luck!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, shortish, 4 person play/concert. I can see why it won a lot of awards.

[mac ireland]

Quick, one of those plays that I feel like we all need at some point, not thought provoking or action packed but soothing and heart wrenching.