As much as I enjoy Chekhov, I'm not a big fan of THE CHERRY ORCHARD; it never made much sense to me. However, this adaptation by David Mamet makes the play easier to follow and understand. The play itself is often labeled as a tragedy, but really isn't. As Mamet points out in the introduction to this adaptation, the closest form of drama THE CHERRY ORCHARD's structure resembles is the farce. In fact, if all the characters weren't so depressing, the play would be hilarious. Perhaps that is what Chekhov originally intended, that as we would see the outrageous, pitiful existence of the characters in this play we would laugh at their mopping and folly and strive to make our lives more meaningful. This isn't the best work to introduce one to the genius of Chekhov, but it is a classic and if one can get past all the whining (or to use a more pc term "reminiscing") it's worth the read.

As I read this play, my family is in the process of moving a thousand miles away from the farm where I grew up. Though I am so far away from the Russian culture and time of this play, the themes of place, tradition, and inevitable change resonated inside of me, and I am grateful to Chekhov for the way he has handled them.

The Cherry Orchard is a play about change, and the symbolism is pretty easy to recognize. What makes it stand apart, I think, from a thousand other plays on the same theme is its wonderful sense of comedy, of smiling sadness. Chekhov all his life insisted it was a comedy. As the Cherry Orchard slips away from the Ranevskys, they seem to smile at its going. As they are unable to change their habits -- still lending money they don't have, still spending extravagantly -- they quietly laugh at their own foolishness. The change comes, and they leave, heartbroken -- but embracing the change at the same time, only feebling struggling against it. One feels saddest, in the end, for Lopakhin, the new owner of the Cherry Orchard. He seems to believe he has bought happiness and friends, but is quickly discovering the emptiness of money and possessions, as no one wants to borrow from him, and no one seems to pay him much heed at all.

Chekhov paints with a fine brush, and I appreciate that. There is no thunderstorming, no ranting and raving in this work. There is a fine and subtle, sad and comedic portrayal of a family and a place encountering change. It is a heartbreak with a smile.

The translation, though the only one I've read, seems good. It is easy to follow and rich in simple feeling.

if you'd like to discuss this play with me, or recommend something i might enjoy, or just chat, e-mail me at williekrischke@hotmail.com.

"How should one live?" is the fundamental question driving most of Chekhov's work, and it is very overtly laid bare in The Cherry Orchard. Should the aristocratic family in decline stick to owning their cherry orchard (representative of the grandiose trappings of Russian aristocracy), or give in to modern commercialization in order to survive? What is the value of tradition, and how many trees should one own? Chekhov will not answer these questions for you, but he poses them in most interesting ways. In addition to wise insights into such fundamental dilemmas, Chekhov also provides a lot of witty banter, and a great slice-of-life view at 19th century Russian high culture. But this is not just a Russian play or a 19th century play; its themes, questions, and prospective answers are relevant for individuals coping with society and history in any place, and at any time.

Contained in this collection are most if not all of Blake's most essential works,including "The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell";the two songs,"Auguries Of Innocence"; etc..In the creative fertility of this great poet came some of the greatest lines ever written in the English language,or any language for that matter.His conjuring of visions perhaps is the first written document of modern poetry,heralding what is to come.

I can not really recommend this book. It is not a bad book, a bit thin, and a bit pricy. It has a few small highlights, But most of the time I found myself flipping through the pages. And in a book with such little pages, it stinks to have to flip.

Section 1 is about an individual named Maria going through divination. I just could not get into it, and I skipped paragraph after paragraph trying to get the gist of it, and just could not.

Most of what Mr. Mason has written about has been written better elsewhere. For example The Altar of my Soul by Marta Moreno Vega, and Cuban Santeria by Baba Raul Canizares. <-- Ibae!! I found the book to be a bit tedious, in the writing style. There was a story where an Elder Priestess is having an argument with an Italero over a derecho owed to her. You read how this individual uses the religion only as a way of financial growth, and to boost her Ego, instead of her true love and respect for the religion. Although this is true in many instances, I can not find the reason that led the author to write about it.

To be honest half the book is Glossary, and Notes. This is good for the people who have little knowledge of Orishas worship, but a bit of a waist of space and money for the Orisha community who has all this information imbedded into their being.

If you are beginning in Lukumi, or looking for research into the religion then you might like this book. If you are already established into the religion, skip this book you will not be missing much.

This book needs more practical information. The author is a first rate scholar and if scholarship is what you desire this is the book for you. But if you need plain easy to read info in great amounts,read another book.

In"Living Santería: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion," Michael Mason takes the reader on a fascinating journey through his own exploration of Santería, beginning as an observer, then becoming initiated into the priesthood of Santería, and finally initiating others into the priesthood. Mason's main argument is that Santería, like any religious practice, is performative, and is thus best understood by incorporating some of this performativity into his written analysis. Using each chapter to focus on a key ceremony within Santería (including a client's divination session; an acquaintance's reception of the guerreros, or warrior deities; and a neophyte's initiation into the priesthood of Santería), Mason emphasizes the body as an important site for ritual learning and individual transformation through the practice of Santería.

Mason is steeped in the philosophical writings of hermeneutical phenomenology, and is able to apply the ideas of Mauss, Bourdieu, Marcus, and Jackson to the praxis of Santería in informative and useful ways. Although many books have been written about Santería, most have been written by practitioners who are not scholars, and none has been able to make this analytical connection so successfully. Mason, a folklorist and curator, also highlights the importance of material culture. Certain rituals of Santería have been adumbrated in some detail by previous authors (J. Mason, L. Cabrera), but none has presented as thorough and compelling a picture of the asiento as Mason. And most important, Mason is himself a priest and practitioner of Santería, with more than ten years "in the religion." This makes his perspective invaluable, and provides the strongest component in this tripartite approach to understanding Santería. Because of his first-hand knowledge of this religious tradition and his first-rate academic and practical training, Mason is able to synthesize his socioreligious experiences in a way that few others can.

Mason represents a rare combination: a scholar-practitioner who is as respected in his profession as he is in his religion. I would compare Mason's work favorably to Karen Brown's Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn (1991). Mason's work is greatly influenced by theorist Michael Jackson, and can also be favorably compared to some of Jackson's essays on the nature of ethnographic inquiry. Certainly, Mason has been influenced by the great Cuban ethnographers Lydia Cabrera and Fernando Ortíz in the scope and detail of his writing, but neither Cabrera nor Ortíz focused their efforts on sociological analysis. Mason's work picks up where Cabrera, Ortíz, and others left off, connecting the litany of ritual detail with intricate webs of meaning, theorizing about the subjectivity of individual experience.

The book will be of considerable interest to scholars and others who are interested in the practice and process of Santería. Folklorists, anthropologists, religious practitioners, performance theorists, scholars of religion, scholars of the Caribbean, and serious students of ethnography will be gratified by the style and substance Mason brings to his subject. General readers who are interested in Santería and other Caribbean religious practices will also be drawn to the book's accessible and engaging approach to the experience of Santería. In short, buy this book!

A very important novel of the 19th Century. How it is included in the best novels of the 20th Century by the New York Times is beyond me. The book was begun more than 30 years before 1900. Although completed in 1872, it lay unpublished for nearly 30 years; presumably until such time as some of its anti-Victorian ideals would be more palatable to the British public.

The story principally centers around the life of Ernest Pontifex, an impreesionable and naive young man who is reared by devout Anglican parents. Their well meaning cruelty shelter Ernest and cause him to make bad decisions and derail his ambitions. As a result of the consequences of these bad decisions, Ernest learns to manage his own life and becomes a success despite his early failures.

Although important in its time, the novel is brutally slow.

The Way of All Flesh covers six generations of strife in the Pontifex family, and spans a period from 1750 to 1880. However, the bulk of the story concerns the life of Ernest Pontifex, from about age 5 up to age 28, and describes his unsatisfactory relations with his parents, his school, his church, his wife, and his friends. Sometimes we feel sorry for Ernest, because many of his problems are caused by unbelievably cruel or thoughtless people, and sometimes we're furious with him, because he himself is the author of at least half of his troubles, but either way his misfortunes make him stronger and move him steadily along the path to maturity. Throughout, the book remains an easy read, although the writing is very witty and often rewards close examination.

Even today, 100 years after the book's publication, a reader finds many things to identify with. Anyone who felt unjustly treated by his or her parents or teachers will find much to sympathize with here. Anyone who has wrestled with the conflict between Reason and Faith will find much to think about here. Given how much change the last century has seen, it's surprising how many of the issues still seem fresh and relevant, and the book definitely makes you think about them. It is easy to see how many people have described reading The Way of All Flesh as a turning point in their lives.

A point worth keeping in mind: the characters are all described from Ernest's point of view. Several clues tell us that Ernest exaggerates the cruelty of various characters - some of whom seem evil beyond belief, and I think it's quite clear that, at these points, we're supposed to smile at Ernest - not shake our heads at the author. This is most obvious with Ernest's schoolmaster, Dr. Skinner, whom Ernest consistently sees as a pompous fool, but who we also know is very popular with the best students, and who shows other signs of being a much better man than Ernest believes him to be.

The footnotes in my edition (Penguin Classics 1986) are very skimpy, focusing on comparing elements from Ernest's fictional life to Samuel Butler's real one. The failure of the notes to translate passages in French or Latin, or to explain very contemporary references, is inexcusable. (E.g. but for the recent controversy over his Beatification, we'd have no clue that "Pio Nono" was Pope Pius IX.) Hoggart's introduction (1966) is decent but a bit dated, not having weathered as well as the book itself!

I read this book after reading all the reviews on Amazon not knowing what to expect: Incredibly boring or amazing insightful? I have read many books written in that same time period. I believe this to be the most mature work to come out of England in the late 19th Century(although it was published later). I enjoy Dickens, Hardy, and Eliot very much, but Butler makes their works look like grocery store fiction. I can see how many people might be bored if they were expecting a great story. While the story is excellent, it is more a book about ideas. Butler uses his hero to voice his commentary on Victorian ideals. Most of it is still very relevant today, though. I think it will be most relevant for people that have been exposed to the religious right wing who still hold many Victorian values. I enjoyed the characters and the story was compelling. There are many beautiful passages. It was very funny at times and somewhat sarcastic. The narrator reminded me of Hemmingway born 50 years earlier in England. What impressed me the most was Butler's modern style of writing. Much less wordy than Dickens. Dickens would have taken 800 pages to express the same thoughts. I also felt a real kindred to the main character Ernest. This is ultimately a coming of age book which most people will be able to relate to in one way or another (unless you haven't grown up yet). I would recommend it to all serious readers.

It seems this book was put together in a hurry. Lots of authors contributing to the portions they may understand or use. They don't mention who wrote what but as the reader moves from chapter to chapter, the language and writing style changes dramatically.

I would not recommend this book to others.

To be fair, this is not an easy subject. However, they give a short chapter on XPath, and then thrust you into XSLT. That would not be bad IF, during their weak XSLT explanations they would also explain the XPath in their examples. Not only are the explanations weak, but the writing style of the authors is not clear and intuitive. Don't get me wrong, they do explain them, but not clearly.

I have been reading Wrox books for several years now, I have always learned a lot from them, but I have to say this is the absolute worst Wrox book I have ever read. I would suggest finding a different book.

Sorry Wrox, I normally very much enjoy your books.

I'm a developer currently working on a large-scale multi-platform project, which uses XML and XSL extensively.
The book seems to cover all aspects of XSL in great depth, with plenty of code to illustrate how to apply the techniques the authors introduce.
As a programmer used to more traditional procedural languages, I hadn't realised the paradigm shift that working with XSL entails, but this book has kick-started my enthusiasm for XSL, and has shown me what it can really do. The stylesheets I'm writing now are going down very well at work, and one in particular completes its transformation almost 50 times quicker than the code we had previously (no exageration)!

I'd have to disagree with one of the previous reviewers who says it is concerned solely with MSXML!! Although it does cover this technology in one chapter, this isn't a surprise as the book tries cover all aspects of the XSL field. Most of the book is concerned with platform-agnostic tools and techniques, based on the current W3C standards. We use a lot of java in my company, especially as servlets, and this book was pretty indispensible when I was trying to get my stylesheet to work in tandem with servlets and JSP. The one gripe I have is that the book is rather skimpy on Formatting Objects, and if that's your thing you might be disappointed.
Nevertheless, I'd recommend this book to anyone seriously working with XSL, and although it's not a book for novices, it's an excellent reference that you'll keep coming back to.