A student edition of Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play First staged in Britain in 1983, Glengarry Glen Ross is the tale of four real-estate salesmen in a cut-throat sales competition. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and was made into a film, starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin, in 1992. "The finest American playwright of his generation" Sunday Times "A chillingly funny indictment of a world in which you are what you sell" Guardian "Nobody alive writes better American...Here at last, carving characters out of language, is a play with real muscle" Observer "David Mamet, screenwriter of The Verdict and The Postman Always Rings Twice, is alongside Sam Shepard and Michael Weller, one of the most distinctive voices on the contemporary American stage" Michael Coveney, Financial Times
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The best new American play of the season. Wonderfully funny…a play to see, remember and cherish.” –Clive Barnes, New York Post
“The most exciting American play in years.” –Howard Kissel, Women’s Wear Daily
“One of his best plays. Crackling tension…ferocious comedy and drama. A top American playwright in bristling form.” –Frank Rich, The New York Times
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
“The most exciting American play in years.” –Howard Kissel, Women’s Wear Daily
“One of his best plays. Crackling tension…ferocious comedy and drama. A top American playwright in bristling form.” –Frank Rich, The New York Times
Review
The finest American playwright of his generation Sunday Times A chillingly funny indictment of a world in which you are what you sell Guardian Nobody alive writes better American...Here at last, carving characters out of language, is a play with real muscle Observer David Mamet, screenwriter of The Verdict and The Postman Always Rings Twice, is alongside Sam Shepard and Michael Weller, one of the most distinctive voices on the contemporary American stage Michael Coveney, Financial Times
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"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.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The book is a sadistically dark comedy which made me laugh even though I knew that it was supposed to make me think. Mamet takes a regular setting of everyday men and turns it into a mob-like atmosphere. He sarcastically talks about the capitalistic system, emphasizing on every single perversion of it. The play begins by introducing the reader to the characters, and by establishing their places in society. Just like any other auspicious play Glengarry Glen Ross follows a specific success formula. It contains its favorites, and it's losers. Even though from the begging you can't really decide what's going on, you see by the middle of the play to which you relate best.
After a crime is committed, and a detective is called on the scene, every man is trying to save himself while still trying to make a buck. While trying to revolt against a cruel and hostile boss the characters find themselves in a world that consists of lies and deceit, where cruelty and heartlessness are necessities to survive. I really can not say anything bad about the play. It delivers on its promise providing you with every detail, starting from the charged vulgarity in its dialogue and finishing by the pure business relations that take place in this capitalistic society. It shows men turning their backs on their fathers in law for the good of the company (Levene and Williamson). This play is more then just a sarcastic tribute to the capitalism. It is an attempt to laugh off the dirt of the human kind. Just like little kids who try to laugh when they are scared in order to make it easier to bear the truth, this play was intended for those of us who seem to have lost the faith in the society.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Stunning observation of dialogue and human interaction
I had heard friends of mine praising this man's work, but I didn't expect to find work of quite such extraordinary quality. Read more
Published 22 months ago by James Taylor
As good in print as it is on the screen
Although I will always picture in my mind the absolutely stellar cast (Lemmon, Pacino, Harris, Arkin, Spacey, Baldwin, Pryce) from the 1992 New Line Cinema motion picture, I would... Read more
Published on April 26, 2010 by Jason Kirkfield
Brutal Salespeople, Superb Play
David Mamet is at his best with this Pulitzer-Prize winning play about cut-throat salesmen working on commission. Read more
Published on March 20, 2010 by K.A.Goldberg
The Master at the Height of His Powers...
Like Pinter, Mamet is the master not of just the words but the spaces between them; shapes the silence that holds the words together; and reveals the true (subconscious) forces... Read more
Published on December 22, 2008 by W.W.
Chicago Dog
There are only a few truly perfect things on this earth. A Chicago dog is one of them. There is nothing quite like it. This play is another little piece of perfection. Read more
Published on July 29, 2008 by David Schweizer
Powerful Language
The film version of Mamet's play with Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino is incredible and having recently attended a production of this play in the West End of London I was intrigued by... Read more
Published on December 29, 2007 by R. J. Marsella
Swearing for the Sake of Swearing
Glengarry Glen Ross, a real estate sales firm run by contentious and pugnacious animals, connives innocent folks into buying land at above market value. Read more
Published on December 5, 2007 by J. Brescoll
nowhere near as good without Alec Baldwin
The Alec Baldwin scene that's in the movie version is not here in the play. As I understand it, the terrific Baldwin
scene was written later and made part of the screenplay... Read more
scene was written later and made part of the screenplay... Read more
Published on November 29, 2007 by Kirk Alex
A quick read
Its the first time I've ever read a book and finished it before the movie version of the same thing ended. Sure, its the theatre book but, wow... Read more
Published on March 21, 2006 by RJ
A Modern American Masterpiece
This powerful and moving play--winner of the 1984 Pultizer Prize for Drama--uses the world of real estate sales to depict four salesmen who who work, or maybe struggle, to "close a... Read more
Published on July 7, 2003 by M. A Netzley
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Jerry Graff, James Lingk, Fuck the Machine, Mountain View New!
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Citations (learn more)
This book cites 10
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- American Buffalo by David Mamet in Front Matter
- Life in the Theatre by David Mamet in Front Matter
- House of Games by David Mamet in Front Matter
- Warm and Cold by David Mamet in Front Matter
- Goldberg Street: Short Plays and Monologues by David Mamet in Front Matter
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- David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross: Text and Performance (Studies in Modern Drama) by Leslie Kane on 134 pages
- Weasels and Wisemen: Ethics and Ethnicity in the Work of David Mamet by Leslie Kane on 67 pages
- The Cambridge Companion to David Mamet (Cambridge Companions to Literature) by Christopher Bigsby on 41 pages
- Masterpieces of 20th-Century American Drama (Greenwood Introduces Literary Masterpieces) by Susan C. W. Abbotson on 12 pages
- New Essays in American Drama (Costerus NS 76) (Costerus New Series) by Gilbert Debusscher on 9 pages
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