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The Cabin
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Oleanna and Glengarry Glen an elegant collection of essays that reveal an autobiography of an internationally acclaimed dramatist that is both mysterious and revealing.
The pieces in The Cabin are about places and the suburbs of Chicago, where as a boy David Mamet helplessly watched his stepfather terrorize his sister; New York City, where as a young man he had to eat his way through a mountain of fried matzoh to earn a night of sexual bliss. They are about guns, campaign buttons, and a cabin in the Vermont woods that stinks of wood smoke and kerosene—and about their associations of pleasure, menace, and regret.
The resulting volume may be compared to the plays that have made Mamet it is finely crafted and deftly timed, and its precise language carries an enormous weight of feeling.
The pieces in The Cabin are about places and the suburbs of Chicago, where as a boy David Mamet helplessly watched his stepfather terrorize his sister; New York City, where as a young man he had to eat his way through a mountain of fried matzoh to earn a night of sexual bliss. They are about guns, campaign buttons, and a cabin in the Vermont woods that stinks of wood smoke and kerosene—and about their associations of pleasure, menace, and regret.
The resulting volume may be compared to the plays that have made Mamet it is finely crafted and deftly timed, and its precise language carries an enormous weight of feeling.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
About the author
David Mamet
224 books738 followersDavid Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity.
As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997).
Mamet's recent books include The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary, with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, an acerbic commentary on the movie business.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 20, 2023
Liked these random fragments of a life more than I should have. Loved the Chicago memories especially.
January 13, 2021
I first discovered David Mamet in my youth upon repeated watchings of The Spanish Prisoner on VHS tape at my step-mother's family beach house on Oak Island, NC. Years later I saw Glengarry Glen Ross and was equally captivated by the tension and dialogue between the actors on screen. This was my first time reading the works of Mamet on paper, and to read his own experience, placed so delicately in Chicago, so aware of his place in the 20th century, captivated me with every turn of the page. To have found this book in a local 'Free Little Library' I feel blessed.
January 17, 2009
The essay form calls for a truckload of self-knowledge and not a little self-involvement to generate entertaining glances into an author's life or experiences. Not really a straight memoir or self-analysis, David Mamet's The Cabin is a collection of thought pieces that most times invite the reader to laugh, but just as often force the reader to wonder what exactly Mamet is trying to accomplish, leading to boredom or potential eye-rolling.
The best pieces in this collection combine Mamet's abrupt theatrical dialogue with the flights of fancy involved in growing up. So the strongest essays, or memories examined, arise during the analysis of inanimate objects: the best tea shops in England, collectable buttons, the cabin where Mamet never seems to write anything, etc. Fortunately, remembrances of old houses and neighborhoods predominate, and almost always end with a surprising twist, like a good Mamet thriller--providing an edge or polish that the rest of the exercise lacks.
The best pieces in this collection combine Mamet's abrupt theatrical dialogue with the flights of fancy involved in growing up. So the strongest essays, or memories examined, arise during the analysis of inanimate objects: the best tea shops in England, collectable buttons, the cabin where Mamet never seems to write anything, etc. Fortunately, remembrances of old houses and neighborhoods predominate, and almost always end with a surprising twist, like a good Mamet thriller--providing an edge or polish that the rest of the exercise lacks.
December 31, 2016
Mamet thinks he's Hemingway or something. Which doesn't make for a bad collection.
September 6, 2019
The 'just in case' school of gun carrying - which is to say, all of it:
“The pistol lay next to two large mustard-ware bowls and two maple-sugar molds. It was pushed to the back because the child had said it frightened her. I never told her it was there.
I took it, shoved behind my belt, when I walked in the woods.
It made me feel a bit overburdened and foolish, but I knew that black bears sometimes attacked; and, though I knew these attacks to be exceedingly rare, I fantasized about being the victim of one, and of dying unarmed in deference to a mocking voice that was, finally, just another aspect of my fantasy.”
I love Mamet. This piece, from which the collection gets its title, is good. Others not so much.
I've always wanted to use YMMV (your mileage may vary) in a review. I've seen it on Amazon (alongside POS, which I also would like to use) and since I'm a Brit in New York, I thought I'd assimilate more readily online with my American cousins if I use it. Here we go.
YMMV.
Hmmm. Not as satisfying as I thought: perhaps because its immanent in all reviews. Hrrmph.
“The pistol lay next to two large mustard-ware bowls and two maple-sugar molds. It was pushed to the back because the child had said it frightened her. I never told her it was there.
I took it, shoved behind my belt, when I walked in the woods.
It made me feel a bit overburdened and foolish, but I knew that black bears sometimes attacked; and, though I knew these attacks to be exceedingly rare, I fantasized about being the victim of one, and of dying unarmed in deference to a mocking voice that was, finally, just another aspect of my fantasy.”
I love Mamet. This piece, from which the collection gets its title, is good. Others not so much.
I've always wanted to use YMMV (your mileage may vary) in a review. I've seen it on Amazon (alongside POS, which I also would like to use) and since I'm a Brit in New York, I thought I'd assimilate more readily online with my American cousins if I use it. Here we go.
YMMV.
Hmmm. Not as satisfying as I thought: perhaps because its immanent in all reviews. Hrrmph.
December 27, 2024
For the past year or so, I've found myself magnetized towards Mamet's work. Probably because I got to hear him talk in person and his personality comes through so clearly in his work, and I just enjoy the resurrection of his presence--he's got such a sense of self-important sturdiness that I find a lot of power within.
March 5, 2021
If literature could be equated with music, I’d say that these reminiscences by David Mamet plays like chamber music, a light string ensemble that stays with you long after the show is over. Thumbs up!
February 12, 2024
Bought this book in a second hand bookshop in Chicago.
It starts with The Rake, a heartbreaking, breathtaking piece of writing about Mamet's childhood. I found it very moving.
Most of the rest of the pieces were a lot more banal, and I struggled to see the point of most of them.
It starts with The Rake, a heartbreaking, breathtaking piece of writing about Mamet's childhood. I found it very moving.
Most of the rest of the pieces were a lot more banal, and I struggled to see the point of most of them.
March 30, 2019
Beautiful, spare, fascinating, comfortable in its unapologetic humanity.
August 23, 2021
Truly enjoyable and often laugh out loud funny factual short stories from Mamet’s life. Definitely lives up to his brilliant films.
January 3, 2024
It makes me mad that David Mamet can be so annoying 80% of the time and then one of the greatest authors to ever work in the English language 20% of the time.
Want to read
June 14, 2025Cutting is for The Rake: A few Scenes
from my Childhood
By David Mamet
from my Childhood
By David Mamet
November 12, 2025
This collection of Mamet essays dives deep in to the memories that make up the writer and man.
May 28, 2014
It is, I think, a glorious thing to read any essay by David Mamet, especially in a moment of disillusion. He has the ability to cut through the great chafe of life and, in a prose that is lean but never anorexic, reveal wisdom in all areas: art, lust, guns, even campaign buttons. I will probably forever remain undecided whether he is better served to be known for his plays and films or his essays: the former are more popular and something has to be said for that. Then I read "The Cabin" for the twentieth time and I think "Hmmm...."
Although "The Cabin" is essentially a memoir, it is one without chronology or the sort of self-aware memorializing that has become the standard style. And yet in a series of unrelated essays that take us from his childhood to a summer in Quebec to the premiere of his film Homicide at Cannes, Mr. Mamet manages to whisk us through his entire life. Memorable episodes include the consumption of matzoh brai in his quest to "engage in embraces" with a young woman; his rant against music in public places; and the opening essay concerning a childhood with a family who terrorized him and his sister.
Much of the power of this book lies in the prose, which is short and blunt and doesn't waste a lot of time. Like his plays and films, the words and thoughts are deftly arranged. Yet for all the precision of the sentences, this remains a dense book that is weighted with both profound moments and self-effacing humor as he ridicules the arrogance of his younger self. Perhaps my affinity to this work has to do with the way I identify with Mr. Mamet and many of his opinions - I too recall my arrogant past with mockery, affection and a wee bit of envy. (Arrogance, after all, is a form of ignorance and we all know what bliss that can be...)
Although I am a great fan of Mr. Mamet's work, this book always leaves me a little sad because each time I read it I am struck by the suspicion that Mr. Mamet and I will probably never be friends. Not because we will never meet, but because if we did meet, I don't know if we'd get along. We all fantasize about being best friends with those artists we admire, but I sense Mr. Mamet and I differ on a great many things. I have never owned a gun and would be miserable in a cabin in Vermont. He has this fascination with weaponry that I simply can't share. Our opinions on art are similar, so perhaps we could have a discussion on that; but that would only take an hour or two, at which point there would be an awkward silence and I would have to leave, less I confess that I have always had a tiny crush on his wife.
Although "The Cabin" is essentially a memoir, it is one without chronology or the sort of self-aware memorializing that has become the standard style. And yet in a series of unrelated essays that take us from his childhood to a summer in Quebec to the premiere of his film Homicide at Cannes, Mr. Mamet manages to whisk us through his entire life. Memorable episodes include the consumption of matzoh brai in his quest to "engage in embraces" with a young woman; his rant against music in public places; and the opening essay concerning a childhood with a family who terrorized him and his sister.
Much of the power of this book lies in the prose, which is short and blunt and doesn't waste a lot of time. Like his plays and films, the words and thoughts are deftly arranged. Yet for all the precision of the sentences, this remains a dense book that is weighted with both profound moments and self-effacing humor as he ridicules the arrogance of his younger self. Perhaps my affinity to this work has to do with the way I identify with Mr. Mamet and many of his opinions - I too recall my arrogant past with mockery, affection and a wee bit of envy. (Arrogance, after all, is a form of ignorance and we all know what bliss that can be...)
Although I am a great fan of Mr. Mamet's work, this book always leaves me a little sad because each time I read it I am struck by the suspicion that Mr. Mamet and I will probably never be friends. Not because we will never meet, but because if we did meet, I don't know if we'd get along. We all fantasize about being best friends with those artists we admire, but I sense Mr. Mamet and I differ on a great many things. I have never owned a gun and would be miserable in a cabin in Vermont. He has this fascination with weaponry that I simply can't share. Our opinions on art are similar, so perhaps we could have a discussion on that; but that would only take an hour or two, at which point there would be an awkward silence and I would have to leave, less I confess that I have always had a tiny crush on his wife.
December 5, 2015
Not really a book. Some wonderful prose that made me want to read a real story or even autobiography by Mamet. But it is too slight and not really a fully formed thing. Some of the stories/essays/memories are a single paragraph long and not connected to anything else. Leaves things disjointed and wanting more.
September 16, 2007
Forced read by the lit arts teacher. Again, worthwhile.
November 10, 2018
Mamet's power lies in his precise and clever language... This autobiographical collection is fascinating.
July 14, 2010
Good read. Smooth, sad, lonely, and insightful. The author let me know him and I like him.
December 21, 2011
Mamet should write more stuff like this. Snippets from his life and overheard stories.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews