Rating: 
Summary: Savage work
Review: "Glengarry Glen Ross" shows off to great effect the power of Mamet's language. Some readers may focus on the profanity -- and there is plenty of it -- but the profanity only serves to underscore the overwhelming anger that drives the characters in the play. Mamet's characters are bit players on a stage dominated by cockroach capitalism. It's a world that measures a man's worth solely by his ability to turn a buck, and if he can't do it, he's worthless. The characters know this, and they rail against this knowledge in venom-filled, machine-gun bursts of words.Beyond the anger, however, the language derives its power from Mamet's much-discussed use of everyday rhythmic patterns of speech. Characters interrupt one another, leave thoughts unsaid, toss out cryptic ideas, and finish one another's sentences. It all sounds and feels absolutely real, and if you've ever tried to do it yourself, you know how difficult it is for a playwright to accomplish it. In the end, Mamet's play presents a bleak world, yet it's a refreshing antidote to the cheerleading from the press and elsewhere that American business generally enjoys today. Mamet reveals the dark corners of small-time business, the petty jealousies, the insincere work relationships, the undisguised chauvanism, the phony macho posturing, and most of all the clear understanding among all concerned that the only measure of worth is the mark in the ledgerbook that says you made a sale. If most of the characters sound unsatisfied, it's because they are. Selling, the play says, is a hard way to make a living, and it comes at enormous spiritual cost. I found the play's ending (which I won't give away) a bit unsatisfying and I can imagine that some readers might find the repitition in the dialogue tedious. Still, there is no denying, in my mind, the power of Mamet's vision and his devotion to his technique.
Rating: 
Summary: Gimme Twelve Units
Review: "Glengarry Glen Ross" is a must have work. David Mamet, the renowned playwright, executes a work about the struggles of four salesmen, and ultimately, the lengths a common man will go to to achieve success. After I purchased this book...I couldn't put it down. I finished the whole play within hours of its purchase. After reading "Glengarry Glen Ross", anyone is given a new outlook on sales and the stresses of everyday work. This is a "must have".
Rating:
Summary: Gimme Twelve Units
Review: "Glengarry Glen Ross" is a must have work. David Mamet, the renowned playwright, executes a work about the struggles of four salesmen, and ultimately, the lengths a common man will go to to achieve success. After I purchased this book...I couldn't put it down. I finished the whole play within hours of its purchase. After reading "Glengarry Glen Ross", anyone is given a new outlook on sales and the stresses of everyday work. This is a "must have".
Rating:
Summary: Savage work
Review: "Glengarry Glen Ross" shows off to great effect the power of Mamet's language. Some readers may focus on the profanity -- and there is plenty of it -- but the profanity only serves to underscore the overwhelming anger that drives the characters in the play. Mamet's characters are bit players on a stage dominated by cockroach capitalism. It's a world that measures a man's worth solely by his ability to turn a buck, and if he can't do it, he's worthless. The characters know this, and they rail against this knowledge in venom-filled, machine-gun bursts of words. Beyond the anger, however, the language derives its power from Mamet's much-discussed use of everyday rhythmic patterns of speech. Characters interrupt one another, leave thoughts unsaid, toss out cryptic ideas, and finish one another's sentences. It all sounds and feels absolutely real, and if you've ever tried to do it yourself, you know how difficult it is for a playwright to accomplish it. In the end, Mamet's play presents a bleak world, yet it's a refreshing antidote to the cheerleading from the press and elsewhere that American business generally enjoys today. Mamet reveals the dark corners of small-time business, the petty jealousies, the insincere work relationships, the undisguised chauvanism, the phony macho posturing, and most of all the clear understanding among all concerned that the only measure of worth is the mark in the ledgerbook that says you made a sale. If most of the characters sound unsatisfied, it's because they are. Selling, the play says, is a hard way to make a living, and it comes at enormous spiritual cost. I found the play's ending (which I won't give away) a bit unsatisfying and I can imagine that some readers might find the repitition in the dialogue tedious. Still, there is no denying, in my mind, the power of Mamet's vision and his devotion to his technique.
Rating:
Summary: Dark comedic noir set in a cutthroat real-estate office.
Review: An office full of small-time real-estate hustlers is the setting of Mamet's blackly-humorous Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Competing against each other for their very jobs while trying to unite against a hostile boss, these characters are brutal Willy Lomans trapped in a world where lying is a virtue and where cruelty is a strength. Yet they are also human beings drawn to each other for support and companionship. When a robbery is committed in their midst, tensions boil over as each man tries to save himself and still make a buck. Mamet has written a brutally-hilarious satire of capitalism and machismo that also manages to be a compassionate portrayal of men caught in inhuman circumstances. This one will make you laugh even as it makes you think
Rating:
Summary: a tough-minded drama about "business ethics"
Review: Before movies like "Wall Street" and real-life scandals with Enron and WorldCom, there was this play. Mamet's signature dialogue, rife with profanity and ascerbic edge, exposes the bitter side of the business world: shady, insecure businessmen stabbing each other in the back for a shot at selling real estate to naive customers. Using a minimum of setting and timeline, Mamet unmercifully chronicles the undoing of his characters in the office place. The reader is left, quite honestly, without a single shred of hope for anyone, which is one of the most souring aspects of this drama. However, to expose a silver lining is not Mamet's aim. Dark, depressing, and ultimately unsalvageable in its tragedy, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is a masterful portrayal of inhumanity in the same tradition of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "A Raisin in the Sun."
Rating:
Summary: a tough-minded drama about "business ethics"
Review: Before movies like "Wall Street" and real-life scandals with Enron and WorldCom, there was this play. Mamet's signature dialogue, rife with profanity and ascerbic edge, exposes the bitter side of the business world: shady, insecure businessmen stabbing each other in the back for a shot at selling real estate to naive customers. Using a minimum of setting and timeline, Mamet unmercifully chronicles the undoing of his characters in the office place. The reader is left, quite honestly, without a single shred of hope for anyone, which is one of the most souring aspects of this drama. However, to expose a silver lining is not Mamet's aim. Dark, depressing, and ultimately unsalvageable in its tragedy, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is a masterful portrayal of inhumanity in the same tradition of "Long Day's Journey Into Night" and "A Raisin in the Sun."
Rating:
Summary: Honest Approach to the achievement based world of sales.
Review: BRAVO David Mamet....as a person who worked as a aggressive saleswoman for 16 years..I appreciated the honesty, the blunt and straightforwardness that you displayed in portraying the characters of Levine, Moss and Roma...Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Mamet at his Best
Review: David Mamet is not a playwright for the conventional puritan. Having started with that disclaimer, I must profess my true love of this play. Mamet writes with the epitome of realism; although his dialogue seems short, unbelievable, and disjointed, it is, in short, the way people really think. Glengarry Glen Ross is a play about cutthroat business in Chicago and the men who'll do anything to get to the top. Mamet has a style of writing that many find to be annoying, but I find it to be creatively unique. He never actually comes out and states anything you need to know; his exposition, for example, takes place not in five pages but in practically one act, in a manner that makes you slap your forehead midway and say "Oh! Now I get it!" Be forewarned, Mamet writes in language that many consider abusive and offensive, but keep in mind abusive and offensive characters do not mean an abusive and offensive playwright. Mamet seeks to portray American business life as it really is, not sugared down like many idealists.
Rating:
Summary: "It's not a world of men, Machine."
Review: David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner "Glengarry Glen Ross" is an electrifying play filled with drama, tragedy, and bitter and sarcastic humor. This is a play that shows you the world of business and just how cold and calculating it can be. It also shows us just how cold and calculating human beings can be as well. The play is about real estate salesmen who will do just about anything to get a sale. "Always Be Closing" is the motto to follow, however when they don't get the good leads they need, it makes it more difficult for them to close the deals. What's worse is that if they don't pick up the pace, more than one of them will find themselves out of the job. There are the "Glengarry Leads;" the premium leads, but they're reserved for closers only. Things take a dramatic turn when the office is broken into and the leads are nowhere to be found, leading us to a memorable climax. I read the play after seeing the film. I enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed seeing the movie. There are a few things that were added to the film version in order to make it a full length movie, but all of the important elements and classic lines are all there. Mamet has a great ear for dialogue and writes the way people talk. Sure, some people will think there's a lot of swearing and profanities, but this play is a reflection of the business world. And this is the way people talk. It is amazing how well written and structured it is. "Glengarry Glen Ross" is a terrific drama and an enjoyable play to read. I recommend it to anyone who loves a great read. You'll have it finished in no time. The pages literally turn by themselves. Dripping with sharp dialogue, memorable characters, and quiet suspense and action, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is an outstanding achievement in American drama. Read this one as soon as you can.
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