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"At twenty we're all heroes, tackle anything, nothing's too much for us, but by thirty we're tired and useless." (41)

This collection includes five of Chekhov's plays: Ivanov, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. I have reviewed the plays separately; my favorites are The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard. It's fascinating to read the plays back-to-back, in rough chronological order, and to witness the progression of Chekhov as a playwright—to feel him grappling with the themes that preoccupied him throughout his life. Overall, I have to say that I prefer Chekhov's stories to his plays. Having said that, the plays are wonderful at times—the fourth acts especially tend to be magnificent. Chekhov is the master of moving anticlimaxes.

The translation by Ronald Hingley seem fine in general, except that I really didn't like that some of the characters' names were anglicized: if a character's name is Andrei, why call him Andrew? It's pointless and distracting.