Those seeing Saroyan's The Time of Your Life when it first opened on Broadway in 1939 had varying responses. John Mason Brown's review, originally published in the New York Post, acknowledges the play's lack of a strong plot but lauds its "enormous vigor" as well as its beauty and compassion. Brooks Atkinson's New York Times review also notes the play's structural weaknesses, but he considers the play "original, breezy, and deeply felt." The play's lack of structure is both a strength and a weakness, according to Grenville Vernon, writing in Commonweal. The play's loose plot prevents it from being as powerful as it could have been, he argues, but this form also allows Saroyan "liberties which are fascinating and often delightful."

Some critics were not so kind, though. Charles Anghoff, for example, writing for the North American Review, condemns the play and states that "it presents even...