Reviews

Five Plays by Anton Chekhov

lucaswhite1's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kingarooski's review against another edition

4.0

Reading all five plays, one after the other, was a bit of a slog. Thoroughly enjoyable, though. Great scenes from Russian country life in another time.

annepw's review against another edition

2.0

Judging from these 5 plays, Chekhov had some bizarre fixations. Doctors, for one, appear in almost every play. As does infidelity. Climactic ending gun deaths (two suicides, one in a duel). Longsuffering innocent young women and the creepy old guys who love them. Any one of these plays on their own would, I imagine, be less ridiculous (and much better) than the five as a group. As it is, I found myself bored and apathetic by the end. There were cool moments here and there but my main takeaway is that Chekhov doesn't know how to end a play without shooting someone. "Chekhov's gun" indeed.

hades9stages's review against another edition

5.0

The holy scriptures

fruitsnackattack's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

akross's review against another edition

3.0

I'm familiar with Russian literature's tendency to be humorously tragic. I didn't expect any more (or less) from Chekhov and wasn't disappointed. However, compared to his short stories, the plays in this book were somewhat lacking. They didn't have the blunt edge of wit that I loved about stories like Sleepy or Death of a Government Clerk. While critics can find humor in the Cherry Orchard, for me it's just not the same. It's still well-written (though the English doesn't come off as smoothly), but I just can't get that involved.

maggiematela's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

loyaultemelie's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I reviewed all the plays individually - since I hate reviewing collections all at once. I will say the translation was easy to read, and from the little that I have read so far of their Russian counterparts (I have only started Ivanov in Russian), it seems like a good translation. The translator notes in his intro that he went the route of more literal translation, and I think it works well with plays.

I will say I found the Literary Introduction somewhat annoying. A terrible case of 'No one understands Chekhov like I do.' Of course, we're all like this about our favs. But most of us aren't writing introductions for Penguin. Alas I did not laugh out loud, and thus failed the poor man. But overall, I recommend this bindup.

reading_at_the_zoo's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cookerlives's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5